The Graph

End of bull run? The Graph awaits correction after a 200% GRT price rally

GRT has turned technically overbought, but its long-term potential remains skewed to the upside thanks to healthy network fundamentals.

The Graph (GRT) price slipped on Feb. 8 alongside a broader correction across the top crypto assets.

GRT price skyrockets with other data management tokens

GRT’s price plunged nearly 14.5% intraday to $0.18, showing signs of short-term upside exhaustion after rising over 200% earlier in the year. At its sessional high, the token was changing hands for $0.23 on Feb. 7, its highest level in nine months

GRT/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Buying flocked to the GRT market amid a relatively stronger risk-on mood, led by the United States Federal Reserve’s slower interest rate hikes and a strong recovery witnessed in the Bitcoin (BTC) market, which typically influences altcoins into tailing the trend.

The GRT price rally also accompanied similar gains across data management platform tokens. This sector’s market capitalization doubled so far in 2023, with Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), Mask Network (MASK) and Band Protocol (BAND) recording over 200%, 100% and 60% gains, respectively.

Data management tokens and their performances. Source: Messari

Will The Graph’s price correction continue?

The impressive GRT price rally has left The Graph as technically overbought, according to its daily relative strength index (RSI) indicator.

Notably, the daily RSI has exceeded 70, which traditional analysts consider an “overbought” signal. This typically leads to upside exhaustion followed by consolidation or a significant price correction.

In either case, GRT’s overbought status risks plunging its price by 30% in the next month to $0.13, a support level from the May–June 2022 consolidation session. The line also appears near the GRT/USD pair’s 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA; the blue wave) near $0.11.

GRT/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Nevertheless, from a fundamental perspective, GRT looks stronger due to its healthy network metrics.

For instance, The Graph recorded 66% quarter-over-quarter growth in its revenue from query fees in Q4 2022 due to the migration of subgraphs from its hosted service to the decentralized network (mainnet) in and after March 2022.

The Graph’s revenue in recent quarters. Source: Messari

The Graph ecosystem involves two key players: on-chain API (or subgraph) developers and data consumers. Data consumers pay subgraph developers a fee to obtain data from blockchains, called query fees. This fee is paid in GRT.

“Query fees should continue to increase as more subgraphs are migrated to mainnet in the coming quarters,” noted Mihai Grigore, a researcher at Messari, in his quarterly report on the project, adding:

“This increase in volume may attract more key participants to the protocol as it drives profitability for existing ones.”

Related: Blockchain indexer The Graph says adoption is still strong 2 years after mainnet launch

As a result, GRT’s long-term bias could remain skewed toward the bulls. Moreover, independent analyst Altcoin Sherpa anticipates a strong bounce after The Graph token tests $0.13 as support.

GRT/USD daily price chart. Source: Altcoin Sherpa

“I’ll just wait for a consolidation or dip and buy,” he wrote, adding:

“You’re going to look for stuff like this at .13 on lower TFs; some consolidation before another leg. Given how badly this one got rekt, I think it has more left in the tank. Insane volume.”

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Blockchain indexer The Graph says adoption is still strong 2 years after mainnet launch

More than 10,000 delegators have since joined the blockchain indexing network.

According to data provided to Cointelegraph on Dec. 15, network growth still appears to be strong for blockchain indexer The Graph. Launched two years ago, The Graph Network allows developers to easily search, index, use and publish data from public blockchains.

From November 2021 to November 2022, the total number of developers on The Graph (both active and inactive) increased by 145% to 38,000. During the same period, average GRT query fees per month increased by 1,191% to 354,000, while total lifetime GRT queries on the decentralized network increased by 984% to 5.2 billion. Finally, total subgraphs, or proxies for applications, increased by 122% to 641 on the decentralized network in the same period.

Since the network launched, over 200 indexers, 10,000 delegators and 2,500 curators have been onboarded to the blockchain. Over 500 subgraphs migrated from the original hosted service to the fully decentralized network. It currently indexes data from 39 blockchains, including Ethereum, Near, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Celo, Fantom, Moonbeam, IPFS, Cosmos Hub and more. The total number of subgraphs has grown from deployed in decentralized applications has grown from 3,800 at launch in December 2020 to 74,000 now.

Commenting on the results, Eva Beylin, director of The Graph Foundation, stated: 

“For The Graph Network’s 2nd birthday it’s incredible to see our Graph Advocates organizing celebrations in their cities around the world. When I think about the growth over the last two years, I’m blown away by the Advocates’ dedication to The Graph’s mission to support web3. This community is inspiring.”