Stellar Lumens (XLM) encountered significant institutional selling pressure from Oct. 16 to 17, dropping 6.25% from $0.32 to $0.30 within a 23-hour trading window.
Trading volume soared to 89.11 million tokens, with peak liquidation occurring between 06:00 and 08:00 GMT on October 17. Analysts cited coordinated profit-taking by institutions rather than retail panic, as corporate treasury managers adjusted their positions at key resistance levels.
In the last hour of trading, XLM exhibited typical institutional rebalancing behavior, fluctuating within a 1.99% range from $0.299 to $0.305 before closing at $0.303. This pattern mirrored algorithmic trading systems completing their execution cycles as institutional teams finalized short-term repositioning strategies.
Despite short-term fluctuations, the successful launch of Protocol 23 by the Stellar Development Foundation has bolstered the network’s long-term fundamentals. This upgrade enhanced enterprise transaction capacity to 5,000 operations per second through improved smart contract parallel processing, setting Stellar up for wider acceptance by regulated financial entities.
Market structure analysis revealed systematic patterns of institutional trading, with algorithms establishing clear resistance at $0.31 and support around $0.30. Two distinct trading phases were identified: initial corporate buying followed by strategic profit-taking, which ultimately stabilized prices near $0.303 as institutional rebalancing concluded.

Technical Analysis
- Institutional trading volume hit a peak of 91.33 million tokens during major liquidation periods, well above the average of 43.47 million for corporate trading sessions.
- Systematic resistance at $0.31 is indicative of institutional profit-taking protocols and risk management strategies.
- Support levels for corporate trading were established around $0.29 amid high liquidation pressure from treasury management.
- Volume-weighted selling patterns suggest continued corporate rebalancing in preparation for Q4 earnings.
- Consolidation in the final hour at $0.303 with reduced institutional activity indicates that position adjustments have been completed.
- Attempts at corporate recovery showed momentary institutional buying interest but were unable to maintain momentum above the $0.305 resistance threshold.
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