HBAR Price Prediction as Hedera Confronts Significant Headwinds

HBAR price rose by 6% on December 26 as crypto investors bought during the recent crypto market dip. Still, Hedera token remained 72% below the November 2024 high. Still, there is a risk that the token may resume the downward trend in the near term.

HBAR Price Technical Analysis Suggests it Has More Downside

One main reason why the HBAR crypto price has more downside to go is that it has highly bearish technicals. The daily timeframe chart shows that the token has been in a strong downtrend. This made a series of lower lows and lower highs.

The token has moved below the crucial support at $0.1252, its lowest levels in April and June this year. It was also the lowest level in November, and the lower side of the descending triangle pattern. This is one of the most common bearish continuation signs in technical analysis.

The token has remained below the Supertrend indicator, a sign that bears are in control for now. It has also remained below the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA).

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the MACD indicator have also continued falling in the past few months. Therefore, the token will likely continue falling as sellers target the psychological point at $0.050. It is about 55% below the current level.

On the flip side, a move above the 50-day moving average at $0.1370 will invalidate the bearish HBAR price forecast.

Hedera ETF Demand Has Stalled

One of the main headwinds facing the HBAR price is that demand for its ETFs has dried up. SoSoValue data shows that the Canary HBAR ETF (HBR) added $874k in inflows on Wednesday.

This brings the cumulative net inflow to $83 million. It has $53 3 million in assets. It is equivalent to 1.11% of the market capitalization. Before this week’s inflow, the last time the fund had inflows was on December 9.

Therefore, there are signs that American investors are not all that enthusiastic about the HBAR ETF. For one, these investors have bought XRP ETFs worth over $1.14 billion since November 14. Similarly, Solana ETFs have added over $755 million in assets in the past two months.

Hedera Ecosystem Growth Has Stalled

Hedera positions itself as a layer-1 network. It seeks to rival Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain. The project aims to capture market share with speed, scalability, and enterprise adoption. Its main benefits are its faster speeds and low transaction costs.

The network handles over 10,000 TPS and has handled over 71 billion transactions since its founding. Hedera also counts companies like Dell, Google, and T-Mobile as members of its governance council.

The challenge, however, is that the network has not become a popular chain among developers. A good example of this is in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. There, it has attracted just 24 dApps.

These dApps have over $123 million in total value locked, with 9 of them having no assets. Its TVL is much lower than other networks like Plasma, Hyperliquid, Katana, Berachain, and Ink.

More data shows that Hedera has a small market share in the decentralized exchange (DEX) industry. Its DEX protocols handled over $4 million in transactions, also lower than other chains like Base and Arbitrum.

Hedera has also invested in the stablecoin industry, including launching Stablecoin Studio. Stablecoin Studio is a platform that helps companies to build and launch their stablecoins.

Still, despite this, the network has accumulated just $114 million in stablecoins. It is much lower than other chains.

HBAR price is also facing headwinds as the futures open interest has continued falling. Its open interest dropped to $97 million, down from this year’s high of $550 million. Also, the weighted funding rate has moved sideways, a sign of weak demand.