APT gained more than 10 percent in 24 hours as fee-driven burns tightened circulating supply, but an 11.31 million token unlock worth $6.88 million due within a week threatens to overwhelm the network's burn mechanism. The unlock equals 0.65 percent of released supply, roughly 74 times the monthly burn of 152.9K APT.
Aptos's APT token climbed more than 10 percent in a single session, with daily trading volume surpassing $109 million, as the network's fee-driven buyback-and-burn mechanism tightened circulating supply. The rally now faces a test: an 11.31 million APT unlock scheduled to hit the market within a week.
The unlock, tracked by Tokenomist, will add about 11.31 million APT worth $6.88 million to circulating supply, equivalent to 0.65 percent of released supply. That compares with roughly 152.9K APT burned over the past 30 days, per Aptos's post on X.
The burn mechanism stems from a 10x fee increase that lifted average transaction fees to $0.0005, with proceeds used to buy back and permanently remove APT from circulation. Since mainnet, 1.7 million tokens have been burned, an annualized rate of 1.8 million. Network activity has climbed, with 57,047 active addresses and more than 16 million transactions on Sept. 3, while real-world asset net flows reached $145 million — second only to Ethereum's $149 million.
The scheduled unlock threatens to overwhelm the supply crunch that powered the rally. At 11.31 million tokens versus a monthly burn of roughly 152.9K, the new supply is more than 70 times the amount removed from circulation in a typical month. APT broke out of a descending trend channel for the second time after forming a double bottom at $0.523, and now approaches August's peak above $0.71. Short-term resistance sits at $0.65, with net volume data showing about 340K APT sold in the most recent session even as the RSI reads overbought.
The fee switch that enabled the burn mechanism has been central to the rally. Aptos implemented a 10x increase in base fees, redirecting a portion of transaction revenue to buybacks and burns. The chain's revenue accrual has continued, with average transaction fees holding at $0.0005 since the change.
For traders, the question is whether the unlock's selling pressure will be absorbed by renewed interest in Aptos. The token's second breakout from the descending channel suggests bullish momentum, but the RSI divergence and net volume data point to fading buyer conviction as the unlock date approaches. If APT fails to hold above the $0.576 support it lost on Aug. 25, the token could retest the $0.523 double-bottom level.
The unlock's timing compounds the risk. Unlike the gradual burn mechanism, which removes tokens at a steady pace, the unlock injects supply in a single event. Unless demand accelerates sharply, the influx could push APT back toward levels not seen since the late-August pullback, undoing the gains driven by the network's fee-switch economics.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
