Fantom’s native token, FTM, has surged by over 12% in the last day, driven by a strategic update from Sonic Labs.

The surge has spotlighted Fantom (FTM) as the top-performing cryptocurrency among the top 100 digital assets by market value and elevated its price from $0.43 to $0.48.

This is the highest the token has been since Aug. 27, with its market capitalization leaping to $1.36 billion, positioning it as the 59th largest digital asset globally, according to CoinGecko data.

One of the main catalysts behind FTM’s recent rally was a Sep. 9 blog post by Andre Cronje, CTO of Sonic Labs, announcing plans for the Sonic blockchain to introduce credit scores for digital wallets. The initiative aims to penetrate the global unsecured lending market, valued at over $11 trillion.

Another potential driver of FTM’s price is Sonic’s newly released testnet, which achieved transaction finality in a mere 720 milliseconds, marking a significant milestone. In the blockchain context, finality means that once a transaction is confirmed and recorded on the blockchain, it cannot be altered or reversed.

The renewed optimism resulted in a doubling of trading volume within 24 hours, further fueling bullish momentum for FTM.

According to data from Coinglass FTM’s daily open interest surged by 33% to $162.46 million when writing. This coupled with a spike in trading volume, suggests a spike in investor activity, potentially adding fuel to FTM’s ongoing rally.

Looking at FTM’s price activity, the token is approaching $0.4825 on the daily chart, nudging the upper Bollinger Band. The Relative Strength Index at 60 indicates a bullish trend with room for further growth before possibly hitting the overbought zone.

Following a steady rise above the middle band at $0.4381, the recent spike in trading volume suggests a strong market interest, suggesting upward potential.

For traders and investors monitoring FTM, the immediate resistance to watch is the upper Bollinger Band at $0.5296. A sustained break above this level could open the way for further gains, potentially aiming for a higher resistance level at $0.60. If FTM continues on this trajectory, it has the potential to double its current value and approach the $1 milestone.

Major liquidation levels

Currently, the critical liquidation thresholds for FTM stand at approximately $0.471 on the lower side and $0.503 on the higher side, with a high level of leverage observed among intraday traders at these prices, according to Coinglass.

Should market dynamics shift and the price of FTM fall to $0.471, it could trigger the liquidation of nearly $2.9 million in long positions. Conversely, if the market sentiment turns positive and the price rises to $0.503, around $2.02 million in short positions could be liquidated.

At press time, data indicated that bears were in control, with the potential to trigger liquidations of long positions at lower levels.