SEI is trading just above $0.35 after climbing nearly 40% in the past week and doubling over the past month, but a looming unlock could put price under pressure.
The surge marks its highest price since January, bringing fresh attention to the layer-1 blockchain ahead of a scheduled $20 million token unlock that could test the strength of the rally. The token’s rise has been supported by sharp gains in on-chain and market activity.
According to DefiLlama data, Sei’s (SEI) total value locked has jumped from around $200 million in January to $661 million at the time of writing, a more than 230% increase. The protocol’s TVL briefly reached an all-time high of $673 million on June 12 and has remained near those levels, with much of the liquidity anchored in Yei Finance, which currently accounts for $366 million.
Decentralized exchange volumes are also on the rise, averaging $65 million over the past five days, a reflection of stronger trader engagement on Sei-based platforms. At the same time, market cap has risen to over $2 billion, suggesting growing capital inflows despite the asset still being down 69% from its all-time high of $1.14 set in March 2024.
This wave of momentum now faces a potential inflection point. On July 15, Sei will unlock 55.56 million SEI tokens, or about $20 million, according to Tokenomist data.
Even though this only accounts for just under 1% of the current circulating supply, token unlocks can affect short-term sentiment and increase selling pressure if recipients decide to take profits. Traders will be watching closely to see how the market absorbs the new supply.
SEI’s trading volume has risen by more than 28% in the past day, to almost $500 million, in the run-up to the unlock. Increasing speculation is reflected in derivatives activity. Coinglass data shows that open interest has increased 2% to $351 million and futures volume has increased 24% to $977 million.
On the technical side, Sei is still trading in a strong uptrend and is holding above the upper Bollinger Band. At 70.4, the relative strength index is just outside of overbought territory. All of the major moving averages on both short- and long-term timeframes are flashing buy signals, and the momentum and MACD indicators are still bullish.
However, the commodity channel index has moved into a high-risk area, indicating that there may be a short-term overextension of the token, which may result in a pullback. While there’s no immediate reversal signal, any shift in sentiment around the unlock could trigger a cooldown.
Sei may try to run toward $0.40 or higher if it breaks clear above $0.36 with increasing volume. The bullish setup would be weakened by a rejection and a close back below $0.33, which might allow for short-term profit-taking.
