RUNE, native token of the cross-chain decentralized exchange THORChain, is currently one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the market, boasting of a 31.5 % price increase in the last 24 hours. 

Based on data from Coingecko, this price gain only underlines the remarkable bullish form of RUNE in the past few weeks, as the token is up by 115.0% and 212.3% on the 14-day and 30-day charts, respectively. 

Interestingly, this sustained bullish pressure in the RUNE market has resulted in the DeFi coin attaining a new yearly high of $5.31 and a peak daily trading volume of $1.28 billion.

Behind THORChain (RUNE) Rise

In analyzing RUNE’s meteoric rise in the past few weeks, several analysts have given credit to the newly introduced features on the THORChain platform. 

For context, in the THORChain Q3 2023 Ecosystem Report, the DEX’s development team announced the implementation of new features such as lending, streaming swaps, streaming loans, and savers for stablecoins, among others. 

In an X post on Saturday, a crypto analyst with the username The Wolf of DeFi provided some insight into how one of these features has spurred RUNE to new heights. The analyst attributed most of RUNE gains to the streaming swaps feature, which is designed to allow large swap requests to be automatically divided into smaller requests that are processed over time. 

$RUNE keeps making new highs. The reason for this is the liquidity flywheel. I’ll show you how it works and why it will push $RUNE much higher. @THORChain is built on liquidity pools. As the infrastructure is used for swaps, liquidity providers make money. The base asset of…

— The Wolf of Defi (@thewolfofdefi) November 11, 2023

The Wolf of DeFi explains the introduction of this update has triggered an increase in the platform’s swap volume and the annual percentage rate (APRs) being offered to liquidity providers.

As expected, higher APRs will attract more liquidity providers who have to invest in RUNE, which serves as the base asset of every liquidity pool on THORChain, creating a cycle named the liquidity flywheel.

Furthermore, The Wolf of DeFi stated that every dollar worth of non-RUNE assets deposited in a THORChain liquidity pool is matched with its equivalent in RUNE by the network nodes. 

Thus, if an LP deposits $100 consisting of $50 BTC and $50 RUNE into BTC/RUNE, nodes will balance this transaction with an additional $50 RUNE, which adds to the buying pressure in the market, allowing the token to maintain its upward trajectory. 

RUNE Price Prediction

Looking at RUNE’s daily chart, the relative strength index (RSI) stands at 87.24, which indicates the token is well in the overbought zone. Thus, investors are advised to be on alert for a possible price pullback.

On the other hand, RUNE may continue to sustain its bullish momentum, especially as the team behind THORChain looks to introduce more attractive features, including order book trading.

At the time of writing, RUNE is currently valued at $5.10, with a 3.2% gain in the last hour. Meanwhile, the token’s market cap stands at $1.58 billion, allowing it to rank as the 41st largest cryptocurrency in the market.