Huobi Token Jumps 25% as HT Trading Volume Surges Overnight

Huobi token [HT], the native token of cryptocurrency exchange HTX, has surged 25% to a five-month high of $2.95 following a rapid increase in trading volume.

HT, which recorded an all-time high of $34.8 in 2021, has now broken a persistent 12-month downtrend as the wider crypto market signals the etchings of bull market.

HTX advisor Justin Sun told CoinDesk that he "has no idea" why the token has risen so much.

Daily trading volume for HT has reached $32 million to mark the highest volume trading day since February. Last week's trading volume ranged between $2 million and $5 million as the token languished down at $2.40. The majority of that volume took place on HTX itself with the HT/USDT trading pair hitting $26 million over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

HT suffered a wave of sell pressure earlier this year after Li Wei, the brother of Huobi founder Li Lin, allegedly acquired tokens for "zero cost" and sold them for "huge amounts of cash."

There is no clear news catalyst for the recent rise in price, although the wider altcoin market has been buoyed by wider market optimism around the potential of a spot bitcoin [BTC] ETF being approved by the SEC.

The entire cryptocurrency market cap excluding BTC has risen from $505 billion to $631 billion since Oct. 20. Bitcoin, meanwhile, is currently trading at a 16-month high of $36,800.

UPDATE (November 9, 2023, 12:27 UTC): Changes name to "HTX" for Justin Sun tweet.