Ocean Protocol’s latest developments could provide OCEAN price tailwind for a 60% upswing

Ocean Protocol has seen considerable fundamental developments since the beginning of 2021. Its recent listing on Kraken and its collaboration with Benchmark could provide OCEAN the tailwind required to climb higher.

A step into the traditional capital markets

Ocean Protocol, an ecosystem for sharing data and associated services, announced a partnership with Benchmark Protocol. The move will help connect OCEAN token holders with the traditional capital markets.

Market participants can now lend or borrow OCEAN via the lending platform Benchmark to earn interest. Unlike most lending platforms in the DeFi space, users will not face impermanent loss.

The announcement reads,

Ocean and Benchmark are exploring future collaboration together which would leverage Ocean Market, an open-source community marketplace for data, and the lending of Ocean’s datatokens, a data asset wrapped in an ERC20 token on Ocean Protocol.

Other significant development around the OCEAN token includes the listing on Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The announcement caused a flurry of buyers rushing to buy the token, which pushed Ocean Protocol price up by 30%.

Ocean Protocol price prepares for a small pullback before higher highs

Ocean Protocol price shows a bullish bias due to the formation of a bullish pennant. The 168% surge between February 1 and February 12 formed the pattern’s flagpole, while the consolidation that followed resulted in the pennant.

This continuation pattern forecasts a 60% upswing to $1.82, determined by measuring the flagpole’s length and adding to the breakout point at $1.19. Therefore, a 12-hour candlestick close above this resistance barrier is imperative for Ocean Protocol price to advance further.

Nonetheless, the SuperTrend indicator suggests that OCEAN price could retest the pennant’s lower trendline before it tries to break out. This technical index presented a sell signal on February 22 that remains valid. 

Supporting this bearish outlook is the OCEAN Holder Distribution chart, which shows a divergence between prices and the whales holdings. Indeed, the number of addresses with 100,000 to 1,000,000 OCEAN dropped from 907 to 898 over the past few days.

Such behavior suggests that OCEAN token holders took advantage of Kraken’s announcement to book profit.

Additionally, the number of  Daily Active Addresses on the OCEAN network also showed a 67% decline since March 3. This stark reduction in DAA from 931 to 300  indicates that market participants are fleeing the Ocean Protocol. 

It can also be interpreted as investors reallocating their funds or booking profit at the current price level, which coincides with whale’s recent activity.

These on-chain metrics paint a rather bearish picture for Ocean Protocol price. If validated, a spike in selling pressure could lead to a 15% pullback towards the $0.91 support. The correction may serve as an opportunity for sidelined investors to re-enter the market and help build up bullish momentum.

A spike in buying pressure around the pennant’s lower boundary at $0.91 will help OCEAN price rebound towards the $1.19 resistance barrier and potentially lead to a breakout.