Sustainability of LAB's surge under scrutiny as futures-driven gains propel value up by nearly a fifth

$LAB’s [$LAB] price rose by double digits in the past 24 hours, clocking more than 16% in gains.

The rally comes after weeks of scrutiny following a call-out by crypto investigator ZachXBT for an alleged scam. ZachXBT noted irregularities in the supply dynamics of the token, but that seems to have cooled off.

$LAB price teases breakout but drops back

The rally came after the altcoin broke out from a sideways consolidation that had lasted for 14 days. Before this consolidation, $LAB had made an all-time high (ATH) of $7.77.

While the two-week price range denotes accumulation, these traders were doing so in a premium zone. As per the Fibonacci Retracement tool, $LAB was trading above the 50% level, but its price had wicked below that level several times.

The Stochastic Momentum Index (SMI) was still trading above the neutral level while MACD bars indicated buyer strength.

Source: $LAB/USDT on TradingView

However, $LAB was struggling to stay above this breakout. The price is slowly returning to the range, though bulls are fighting to keep it above $4.87.

Futures’ positive inflows vs. Spot’s mixed flows

On the Futures market, CoinGlass data shows that capital inflows exceeded outflows. In the past 24 hours alone, derivative traders had pumped more than $8.46 million.

The 14-day price accumulation was evident on the Inflow/Outflow chart. The largest single-day accumulation was worth more than $114 million on the 2nd of May.

In total, over the two weeks, more than $633 million in capital had been leveraged.

Source: CoinGlass

Mixed activity characterized the spot market. As per Arkham, $LAB tokens were leaving exchanges, signaling accumulation, and at the same time some were hitting the trading platforms.

For instance, a wallet withdrew thousands of $LAB from Gate while almost equal tokens were deposited into KuCoin and AsterDEX exchanges.

Source: Arkham

The spot activity showed no clear direction, but the futures market was outright bullish.

$LAB squeezed between liquidity clusters

Notably, $LAB destroyed short orders, liquidating more than $4 million in the past 24 hours. As a result, $LAB rallied to a daily high of $5.82, with more clusters forming between $5.50 and $6.

As such, the price is squeezed between liquidity clusters as more orders have formed between $4 and $5.

Source: CoinGlass

A liquidity sweep on the clusters on either side would amplify price movements in the direction of liquidity. In the case of shorts, $LAB may reclaim its peak of $7.77, while for longs below $5, the price may drop to $4.

Final Summary

$LAB rallied 16% in 24 hours following a price breakout and capital inflows from the Futures market.

The price was squeezed between highly concentrated liquidity clusters, and a sweep on either cluster could define its next move.