Uniswap Slides Ahead Of CME Futures Debut As Binance Selling Pressure Eases

• Uniswap dropped as selling pressure eased from its yearly high ahead of CME Group's futures debut on Monday.
• UNI is still in a distribution phase, according to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, although slowing Binance inflows could indicate a potential bottom.
• In late September, Binance's inflows of UNI exceeded $40 million a day, and the Z-score rose above 4 several times.

Uniswap (UNI) fell on Saturday even as on-chain data showed selling pressure for UNI on Binance easing from its yearly high. The dip came two days before the token's futures debut on the CME Group (CME).

On Saturday, CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said in an X post that UNI is in a distribution phase. That is a point at which holders move tokens to exchanges to sell. He said it was driven by rising exchange inflows.

The analyst pointed out that UNI inflows to Binance were the highest of the year in late September, topping $40 million a day. During that period, the Z-score rose above four several times. The Z-score shows how many standard deviations a data point is from the mean, and a value above four is considered an extreme outlier.

Inflows have stayed fairly active since then, but Darkfost noted that the momentum “seems to be fading.”

He said UNI could find a bottom if that slowdown persists. That would end the distribution phase that started when the token peaked at $10.9. Since then, UNI has fallen over 30% from that level, he said.

UNI’s price traded at about $7.33, down 1.4% over 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around UNI remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, accompanied by ‘normal’ chatter levels over the past day.

Strong Fundamentals Fueled Rally

Darkfost said the sell-off came after a strong run in Uniswap's fundamentals. He said total value locked (TVL), the value of assets deposited on the platform, exceeded $4 billion in September.

The decentralized exchange (DEX) volume reached an all-time high of $93.6 billion, according to the analyst. The token rallied as much as 370% from its June low, the analyst said.

DefiLlama data shows Uniswap's TVL at around $3.91 billion on Oct. 16. That was down from roughly $4.03 billion on Oct. 2.

CME Futures Set To Debut

In late September, CME Group said it would launch Uniswap futures on Oct. 19, pending regulatory review. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) futures are also set to launch the same day. A standard UNI contract will cover 10,000 tokens, while a micro contract will cover 1,000 tokens.

The exchange stated that crypto futures and options averaged 279,800 contracts a day in the first half of 2026, equivalent to $8.3 billion in notional value.

UNI is up 30% so far this year and 19% in the last 12 months. 

Read also: Bitcoin Is Jordi Visser's ‘Most Asymmetric Bet Ever’ As Tokenization Threatens To Upend Hedge Funds

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