Maker (MKR) price rallied over 44% in the past week. The DeFi token holds steady even as large wallet investors and whales holding MKR take profits in the ongoing price surge. On-chain and technical indicators support further gains in Maker.
Maker derivatives and on-chain analysis
Sky Protocol (formerly Maker’s) (MKR) MKR token has defied market trends in the past week. The token gained over 44% in value, according to price data on Crypto.news. Derivatives data and on-chain analysis supports a bullish thesis for the DeFi token for next week.
Derivatives data from crypto intelligence platform Coinglass shows a large positive spike in Open Interest in MKR on February 21. The spike represents a massive increase in the total value of open contracts in MKR across derivatives exchanges.
Coinglass data shows that MKR OI is $116.85 million at the time of writing on Friday, February 21.
The total value of assets locked in MKR surged to $5.675 billion, as seen on DeFiLlama. This coincides with the rising price, relevance, and demand for tokens among traders. The rebranding to Sky protocol has proven effective for driving adoption in market participants.
Santiment data shows several negative spikes in Network realized profit/loss metric in the MKR chart since mid-January 2025. This shows several traders and MKR holders are shedding their holdings and realizing losses.
Consistent realization of losses is typically considered a sign of capitulation and is consistent with an eventual recovery in the token’s price. MKR’s daily active addresses recorded a nearly three-month peak this week, signalling the rise in interest from traders.
MKR token’s supply held by whales (excluding exchange wallets) has climbed, recovering from the decline noted in the first week of February. This is another bullish sign for the DeFi token.
The In/Out of money around price indicator on IntoTheBlock shows that 30% of the wallet addresses holding MKR are currently sitting on unrealized losses. 65.55% of MKR token holders have unrealized gains in their portfolio.
Combining the In/Out of the money with the Network realized profit/loss metric, it is less likely that profitable traders take profits as the current trend is that of capitulation. The likelihood of further selling pressure on MKR is low for next week, meaning the token could extend its gains and maintain the underlying positive momentum.
Maker (MKR) weekly price forecast
Maker broke out of its downward trend on February 12, since then the token has rallied, extending gains nearly everyday this week. At the time of writing, MKR is trading at $1,473, on Friday.
The token is close to resistance at $1,632 and $2,050, two key levels in MKR’s upward trend between October 26 and December 4, as observed in the daily price chart. In the event of a correction, MKR could find support at $1,125.
Two key technical indicators, the Moving average convergence divergence indicator and relative strength index flash bullish signs on the daily timeframe. MACD shows consecutive green histogram bars above the neutral line and RSI reads 74 and is sloping upwards.
While this typically generates a sell signal, in the case of MKR, MACD and the underlying positive momentum in the MKR price trend support further gains.
A rally to test resistance at $1,632 marks a nearly 15% rally in MKR price.
Even as whales cash out their MKR holdings amidst price surges, they fail to influence prices negatively. While it is typical of a token to observe a decline in its price if large entities shed their holdings, MKR price is holding steady.
A wallet address identified as inveteratus.eth on the blockchain sold 1,230 MKR worth 1.78 million USDC and secured a 30% profit of $418,000 within less than a month.
On-chain data shows that in April 2024, the whale took a $1.86 million profit from previous MKR trades. The cumulative profit of the whale is $2.27 million through MKR trades.
MKR holds steady amidst DAO drama
The drama surrounding Sky Protocol (Maker DAO) is being identified as a “potential governance attack,” according to the community on X.
@ImperiumPaper, a long-time Maker community member, expressed dissent over a fast-tracked governance proposal that asked for relaxing restrictions on borrowing against MKR, the governance token of the Sky Protocol chain.
As the community debates the proposal, one side argues that it has “bypassed due process” and the effects would include “>2x the credit line for MKR token holders, raising their LTV from 50% to 80%.”
While the DAO drama unfolds, the token continues its rally.
Maker tokens worth $17 million burnt, support gains
The second market mover for MKR this week is the $17 million token burn, identified on the blockchain. When a large volume of tokens is burnt, they are removed from the supply permanently, and they reduce the selling pressure, supporting price gains.
Whale alert: a tracker identified the 14,000 MKR token burn worth upwards of $16.9 million, adding to the catalysts driving the price higher this week.
At the time of writing, MKR trades at $1,432 on Friday.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
