River (RIVER) has risen to a new all-time high early this morning. This continues a rally that has increased the value of the altcoin by nearly 750 percent over the last month.
However, the derivatives market currently gives an important warning signal, which raises some concerns. Moreover, some analysts now expect a possible price decline.
RIVER Token reaches new all-time high
For background: River is a protocol for decentralized finance (DeFi) and is developing a chain-abstraction system for stablecoins. This system allows collateral to be deposited on one blockchain and liquidity to be obtained on another – all without bridges or wrapped assets.
The main product of the protocol is satUSD, an over-collateralized stablecoin minted through an Omni-CDP system. River's own token, RIVER, is used for governance through staking, for higher yields, lower fees, and as a reward.
The altcoin has experienced a strong rally since the beginning of 2026. The pace has increased this week, although the overall market was weak due to Trump's tariffs. Nevertheless, sentiment has improved in the last 24 hours following reports about the rollback of some tariffs, thus strengthening the crypto market as a whole.
According to CoinGecko, RIVER reached a new all-time high of 48.56 USD today. In the last 24 hours, the token rose by 24.2 percent, significantly above the average market gains of about one percent. At the time of publication, the price was 45.8 USD.
Alongside the price increase, the network is also evolving. On Wednesday, River reported a strategic investment of 8 million USD from Justin Sun.
“This investment supports the integration of the ecosystem at @trondao as well as the establishment of River's stablecoin infrastructure with Chain Abstraction,” the team wrote on X. “River will launch Smart Vault and Prime Vault for institutional clients to provide yield opportunities for stablecoins, TRX, and central ecosystem assets on TRON.”
Derivative alert: Notable activities are causing unease.
Nevertheless, the rally also raises concerns. In a recent article, CoinGlass points out that the trading volume in River futures exceeds the volume on the spot market by more than 80 times. This indicates an extreme imbalance in the market.
“When the trading volume in futures is more than 80 times higher than on the spot market, the price is no longer discovered by the market. It arises from leverage, targeted volatility, and recurring liquidation cycles,” says the article.
CoinGlass also emphasized: Such a rise is not organic but controlled.
“Best advice: don’t participate. This is how retail investors get taken out.”
In another article, the data platform explained how financing rates can be used to steer price movements. CoinGlass states that financing rates show the imbalance between long and short traders – not the future price direction.
By pushing the price and having strongly negative financing rates, the market can be flooded with short positions, reinforcing the expectation of a recovery.
“At this moment, many traders are going long – not because of real demand, but because they are betting on: + financing payments and a recovery.”, the article continues.
According to CoinGlass, this creates a trap. A controlled price jump can trigger liquidations and the closing of short positions. This leads to strong rallies as long as financing remains negative. Once the short positions are abandoned, the financing rates normalize. The pattern is often repeated.
“This scheme can repeat itself several times: creating extreme financing rates, luring many to one side, forcing liquidations, resetting – this is price construction, not real price discovery,” explains CoinGlass.
The company emphasizes that financing rates show where traders are clustering and where the liquidation risk is highest. In such artificially created markets, it might be safest not to trade.
Furthermore, some analysts now expect that RIVER may give in sooner or later. A market observer predicted that the token faces a similar downward trend as Aurelia (BEAT).
With the strong rally but cautious sentiment, it remains to be seen whether RIVER can maintain its price gains or if a downward movement will start in the coming days.
