Terra’s LUNA continues to rise towards new highs, as markets continue to cheer the blockchain overtaking Binance Smart Chain to become the second largest DeFi ecosystem after leader Ethereum. At the time of writing, LUNA/USD is trading at around $99.99.

TerraUST’s Rising Demand Supports LUNA’s Uptrend

So far this month, Terra’s native token has already strengthened by over 60%, bucking the bearish trend affecting the wider crypto sector lately. Despite Bitcoin’s fall under the key $50,000 mark, the LUNA token has seen stellar growth on the back of strong demand for Terra’s ecosystem among DeFi projects even as its stablecoin Terra USD (UST) sees higher demand.

Earlier this week, UST overtook DAI – the oldest and most established player in this space, to become the fourth largest stablecoin by market cap. What sets it apart from the leaders of the board such as USDT, USDC and BUSD is that it is managed in a completely decentralized manner, employing algorithms and being backed by cryptocurrencies instead of traditional money instruments to maintain price stability and the peg to the US dollar.

Terra’s DeFi TVL Crosses $20 Billion, Overtakes Binance Smart Chain

Speaking of the overall ecosystem, Terra’s TVL for DeFi stands at a little under $21 billion till date, spiking by more than 55% over the past week alone. This is a significant sum considering the blockchain supports only 13 DeFi protocols unlike the BSC which has over 230 DeFi projects running on it and enjoys a combined TVL of just over $17 billion.

Despite an ongoing legal tussle with the SEC, Terra has been enjoying solid gains especially after the launch of its latest DEX Astroport, which offered airdrops of its native token ASTRO to users willing to lock up their liquidity within its platform. Some analysts have cautioned that the rally in LUNA could be a result of its supply diminishing due to this development, and could potentially mean that Terra’s market cap may be overvalued at the moment. This could indicate a potential price correction in LUNA’s value coming up soon.

LUNA/USD Technical Analysis

Popular crypto influencer and analyst who operates under the pseudonym Altcoin Sherpa has forecast more bullishness in the LUNA token in the near term. However, he has cautioned that the market could experience a strong reaction around its ATH, recommending that traders interested in buying the LUNA wait for a pullback or a break to new ATHs to enter new positions.

Taking a look at the H4 chart of LUNA/USD, we find a strong bullish bias among moving averages and leading technical indicators MACD and momentum. It looks like the key $100 mark will soon be broken.

Terra’s LUNA has smashed past the pivot point at $69.74 and two resistance levels at $87.43 and $96.66 and the bullish momentum remains strong. We could soon see a break above $100 and smooth sailing to new highs until the third resistance at $123.58.