Saad Ullah
Sometimes crypto markets just don't make sense. While most traders would expect a token to pump after landing partnerships worth $220 million and getting PayPal's stamp of approval, XLM decided to do the exact opposite. In a brutal 24-hour period, Stellar's native token crashed through critical support levels, proving once again that in crypto, good news doesn't always translate to good price action.
Despite landing major deals with PayPal and announcing $220 million in new partnerships, Stellar's XLM couldn't escape brutal institutional selling that pushed the token down 3.58% in just 24 hours.
XLM Price Gets Hammered Despite PayPal Integration
XLM took a beating yesterday, sliding from $0.40 to $0.39 in what can only be described as a classic case of "buy the rumor, sell the news." The 3.58% drop happened right as trading volumes spiked above the usual 22.33 million tokens, with most of the damage coming from overnight institutional selling.
Here's the thing that's got traders scratching their heads: this wasn't retail panic selling. The heavy action came during those quiet overnight hours when the big boys typically make their moves. It looks like institutions were repositioning ahead of something – maybe regulatory news or just taking profits after the recent partnership announcements.
The token did catch a small break in the final hour, managing a tiny 0.05% bounce as buyers stepped in around $0.39. But let's be real – that's barely enough to get excited about when you're staring at a broken support level that had been holding strong.
Major Wins for Stellar (XLM) That Couldn't Stop the Bleeding
Now here's where it gets interesting – while XLM was getting crushed in the markets, Stellar was actually killing it on the partnership front. At their Meridian conference in Rio de Janeiro, they dropped some serious announcements that should've had traders pumped.
PayPal's USD stablecoin went live on Stellar, which is huge. We're talking about one of the world's biggest payment companies choosing Stellar's network over dozens of competitors. That's not just another partnership – that's validation from a company that processes billions in transactions.
Then there's Centrifuge throwing $20 million at a tokenized real-world assets project on Stellar, and Mercado Bitcoin (Brazil's crypto giant) announcing a massive $200 million tokenization program. Combined, that's $220 million worth of fresh institutional money flowing into the ecosystem.
But here's the kicker – none of it mattered for the price action. Classic crypto market behavior where good news gets overshadowed by technical selling pressure.
What's Next for XLM Price After This Beatdown?
The technical picture isn't pretty right now. XLM's showing all the classic signs of a bearish trend – lower highs, broken support, and that nasty volume spike during the selloff (1.13 million units at the peak). The $0.40 level that used to be support is now looking like resistance, and that's never a good sign.
Analysts are watching the $0.39 level like hawks. If that breaks, we could see another leg down. But here's the thing – sometimes the best buying opportunities come when great fundamentals meet terrible technicals.
The disconnect between Stellar's growing institutional adoption and XLM's price action is pretty wild. You've got PayPal, major Brazilian exchanges, and DeFi protocols all building on Stellar, yet the token's getting hammered. This kind of divergence usually doesn't last forever.
For traders, the key level to watch is whether XLM can reclaim $0.40 on decent volume. Until then, the bears are firmly in control, no matter how many partnership announcements come out of Rio.
Saad Ullah
