Crypto
Uniswap Finished September Up 70%. It Also Finished 19% Below Its High
UNI had one of the best months in crypto, but the path matters: a run to $10.94 on September 23, a same-day reversal, and a 9% drop five days later.
Measured from the first day of the month to the last, Uniswap's September looks spectacular. UNI opened at $5.23 and closed at $8.88, a gain of about 70% that put it among the top four large coins of the month. But anyone who bought in the second half of the month experienced something very different, and the gap between the two experiences is the real story.
The peak came fast. On September 22, UNI rose 13.7% to close at $10.23, with the steepest part of the move arriving late in the UTC day. In the first hours of September 23 it extended to $10.94 — more than double its price at the start of the month. Then it turned. Through the European and US morning it slid to $9.03, and it closed the day at $9.24, down 9.6%, on about $195 million of volume. From the high to that afternoon's low was a drop of about 17% in roughly twelve hours.
After that, UNI recovered partially and spent several days between about $9.15 and $9.70, before another 9% fall on September 28 took it back below $9. It closed the month at $8.88, about 19% under the $10.94 peak. The two numbers — up 70% for the month, down 19% from the high — are both accurate. Which one describes a trader's September depends only on when they arrived, and the reversal on September 23, a large green day followed immediately by a large red one on heavier volume, was the clearest signal on the chart that the easy part of the move was over.