TRON (TRX) Rose on the Day of the Binance Hack While Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Fell. What Is Holding It Up?
While Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP cratered in the wake of the largest crypto heist in history, one coin quietly climbed. The reasons behind TRX's resilience reveal something unusual about how money actually moves on its network.
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TRON (CRYPTO: TRX) is standing out among major cryptocurrencies, posting gains despite the recent turmoil from a massive hack at Binance. TRX rose 0.8% in the past 24 hours to $0.334. In contrast, the total cryptocurrency market fell 6.5%, and TRX is currently ranked 8th by market cap.
Over the same period, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 4.5%, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) fell 4.6%, and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) dropped 4.0%. However, TRX not only defied the trend but also rose 1.2% over the past week, making its performance particularly notable against these leading coins.
Intraday, TRX showed strong momentum, spiking as much as 9.3% at one point and still posting a 2.5% gain earlier. It closed at around $0.352 on October 29, marking its highest price in 90 days before settling below that level. So, what is keeping TRX afloat while other major cryptocurrencies decline?
About $628 Million from the Binance Hack Moved on Tron
According to blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, approximately $628 million from the recent hack was transferred using the Tron network. Crypto-tracing service MistTrack says some of the TRX from the hack is linked to an address involved in a previous exploit of the Phemex exchange. The attacker leveraged Tron’s network to facilitate a substantial portion of the stolen funds.
Every transfer on the Tron network incurs a fee paid in TRX, unless the sender has staked TRX to cover it. The network then burns the TRX it collects, effectively removing those tokens from circulation and reducing supply. This creates additional demand for TRX, as anyone making transfers—attackers included—needs TRX to cover the fees.
While the timing of these transfers suggests a connection to the hack, more evidence is required to confirm that the hack positively impacted TRX’s price. We need to see if the burn figures from the hack timeframe correlate with the price increase.
Stablecoin Fees Provide Consistent Support for TRX
More stable support for TRX arises from its core operations, which primarily involve moving stablecoins (tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar). As of our analysis on October 21, Tron supported around $95 billion in stablecoins, with Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) accounting for an impressive 97.8%. Data from DefiLlama as of October 20 showed that Tron generated $23.4 million in monthly fees, compared to Ethereum’s $6.3 million.
Stolen stablecoins are easier to manage in a crisis because Tether can freeze USDT on the Tron network. Tether and other issuers have already frozen about $2.7 billion in stolen funds, limiting the amount of stolen stablecoins that can be readily liquidated.
However, the quick decline from the earlier 9.3% spike indicates that this gain may have been short-lived. Short sellers, who profit from declining prices, may have been forced to cover their positions during the spike, driving temporary buying. Once those positions were cleared, the buying pressure eased, which fits the drop back to an overall 0.8% increase.
TRX Held Above Its Moving Averages While Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Slipped Below Theirs
A moving average represents a coin’s average closing price over a set number of days and helps traders gauge trends. TRX’s 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day simple moving averages all sit around $0.33, and the coin trades just above these levels. This close alignment shows that TRX has maintained a narrow trading range for several months.
In contrast, the major coins look much weaker by comparison. Bitcoin is trading below both its 20-day and 50-day averages, though it remains above its 200-day average. Ethereum also trades below its 20-day and 50-day averages, while XRP is below all three. As a result, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP have all lost short-term trend support due to this recent sell-off.
BNB (CRYPTO: BNB), the token associated with Binance, has been hit hardest, falling 6.5% in 24 hours—more than Bitcoin, Ethereum, or XRP. TRX, by contrast, has held up throughout the year, up 17.4% year-to-date, compared with Bitcoin’s 11.6% drop, Ethereum’s 24.9% decline, and XRP’s 32.1% decrease.
Can the TRX Price Hold if Bitcoin Keeps Falling?
For now, TRX appears to be holding its ground. Fee burns and stablecoin transactions provide a solid foundation for TRX, while speculation fueled the recent price spike. The safety net rests on about $95 billion in stablecoins within the Tron network and $23.4 million in monthly fees, both of which rely on ongoing dollar movements, regardless of market sentiment.
However, TRX still faces an important test. Binance has paused withdrawals until it completes a security review, and reopening withdrawals could send a significant influx of coins back into the market. If TRX closes below the $0.33 average as Bitcoin continues to decline, it may indicate weakening stablecoin support.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.
