SAND hits yearly high after 40% rally as whales take notice

Sandbox’s SAND has emerged from a multi-year lull, fueled by the protocol’s ecosystem improvements and renewed interest from whales.

Sandbox (SAND) rose over 40% on Thursday, December 5, reaching a 28-month high of $1.06, bringing its market value to over $2.27 billion at press time. Recent gains have pushed the altcoin up 57% in the past week.

The numbers become even more striking when viewed over a longer period of time: SAND is up 173.6% in the last two weeks and 303% last month.

Notably, the rally coincided with an increase in the altcoin’s daily trading volume and open interest in the futures market. SAND’s daily trading volume increased by 95% in the past day and over $4.1 billion was traded in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, CoinGlass data revealed that open interest in the SAND futures market increased by 19.87% compared to the previous day, reaching $228.58 million, which was significantly higher than the $32.39 million recorded in early November.

Why is SAND rising?

Most of the gains recorded in the last 24 hours come after the project announced two new Sandbox Improvement Proposals that are expected to add more engaging content to the platform.

SIP 16 is seeking €80,000 to develop Part 2 of the popular survival horror game Deep Sea, which introduces new features that will improve the gaming experience. SIP 17 focuses on adding a player inventory filter within the Game Client, allowing users to quickly sort equipment for a smoother gaming experience.

This momentum also ties into the ongoing Alpha Season 4, which includes the platform’s largest-ever prize pool of $2.5 million in SAND. Participants can earn rewards by completing a variety of tasks and challenges created in collaboration with major brands and franchises such as Playboy, Voice and Hellboy.

Whales are accumulating

Whales recently shifted their focus to the leading metadata token. According to data from IntoTheBlock, net flows of SAND whale holders shifted from $2.2 billion in SAND token outflows earlier this month to $8.2 billion in net SAND token flows on Wednesday, December 4th.

SAND whale net flow | Source: IntoTheBlock

Whale accumulation often encourages retail investors to follow suit due to fear of missing out (FOMO) triggered by increased interest in the altcoin.

Despite the significant increase in whale investments, the share of total addresses in profit remains around 50%. This allays fears of sudden sell-offs by whales, as nearly half of whale holders are still at a loss and may choose to wait for further gains in the altcoin before launching a selling spree.

By the way, the increase is not limited to SAND; This is part of a larger comeback for the entire metaverse crypto sector, which has previously experienced a significant downturn. In the past 24 hours, the market value of the sector increased by 5.29% and reached over 30.68 billion dollars.

Trading activity also increased over the same period, with a 64.5% increase in volume. Other big names in the metadata space like Render (RENDER) and Stacks (STX) also reported double-digit gains.