BNB’s price is rising today as traders’ attention shifts toward the launch of Ethena on Binance Launchpool and BNB Chain’s $1 million commitment for the memecoin sector.
BNB
BNB $587 price is up today, rising 4% to $584. In doing so, the cryptocurrency has outperformed most of its market rivals, namely Bitcoin
BTC $66,536
ETH $3,346, whose gains in the same period sit around 0.64% and 0.22%, respectively.
BNB/USD versus BTC/USD and ETH/USD daily performance chart. Source: TradingView
Why is the BNB price up today?
Among the top catalysts driving the BNB’s price rally on April 4 include the ongoing euphoria around the launch of synthetic dollar protocol, Ethena (ENA), and its rising crypto market dominance.
Ethena euphoria improves BNB demand
On March 29, Binance announced the inclusion of Ethena on the Binance Launchpool, noting that users could stake their BNB (and FDUSD) to farm ENA tokens from March 30 until April 1. The crypto exchange listed the ENA token for trading on April 2.
This period coincided with a slight increase in the total-value-locked (TVL) across the BNB Chain, as shown in the Defi Llama chart below.
BNB Chain TVL as on April 4. Source: Defi Llama
In other words, the ability to farm ENA tokens by staking BNB spurred increased buying and holding activities, leading to price gains. BNB price rallied similarly around the cross-chain gaming platform Portal (PORTAL) ‘s launch on the Binance Launchpool in February.
BNB’s crypto market dominance rises
The euphoria around Ethena further coincides with BNB’s rising crypto market dominance, indicating a rise in capital inflows to its market compared to its rivaling assets. Notably, the BNB Dominance Index (BNB.D) has risen approximately 6.5% from its recent lows on April 2.
BNB.D daily performance chart. Source: TradingView
The latest surge in BNB’s market share mirrors the notable expansion seen in other leading altcoins like Solana and Ether, predominantly against Bitcoin, which commands nearly half of the market’s total value.
For instance, the widely-tracked BNB/BTC pair has rallied 7.6% since April 2 to reach a two-week high of 0.00887 BTC on April 4.
BNB/BTC daily price chart. Source: TradingView
BNB Chain’s foray into memecoins
BNB’s price surge further takes cues from the BNB Chain’s strategic expansion into the memecoin market, a move seemingly inspired by the rapid network growth observed in its competitor Solana network within the same niche.
Solana’s TVL performance in recent months. Source: Defi Llama
BNB Chain has announced a commitment of up to $1 million in rewards for developers who launch their memecoin projects on its network, according to April 2. Since then, BNB’s price has gained 2%.
Such strategic investments can potentially drive BNB’s utility and demand, given that it plays a central role in transaction fees, governance, and participation in new projects within the BNB Chain network.
BNB price technical bounce
BNB’s gains today are part of a rebound move that started after testing its prevailing bull pennant’s lower trendline, as shown below.
BNB/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
The price eyes a run-up toward the pennant’s upper trendline, and will likely consolidate inside its triangle-shaped area in the coming days.
However, since bull pennants are considered bullish continuation patterns, BNB’s likelihood of breaking out toward $950, up about 65% from current prices, should be higher by June.
The upside target is the sum of BNB’s breakout level (in this case, it is considered at the pennant’s apex point) and the height of its previous uptrend.
On the other hand, the bull pennant pattern will risk invalidation if BNB price decisively breaks below its lower trendline. This would shift focus to the 50-day and 20-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), marked by red and blue waves, respectively, located at $500 and $360 that should serve as potentially strong support zones.
BNBUSD daily price chart. Source: TradingView