Sahara AI’s token fell more than 60% in a single day, dropping to around $0.0143, with the move leading to a wave of liquidations for the token markets and drew attention from traders trying to explain the sudden drop.
The project responded on X after the decline, stating, “We are aware of the unusual $SAHARA market volatility that just occurred and are actively monitoring the situation in real time.”
The team added that no security issues had been identified in its token contracts or products and they have started an internal review to determine what caused the sharp price movement.
Massive liquidations amplify selling pressure
Derivatives data from Coinglass shows the extent of the market impact, with long-position traders accounting for the vast majority of losses. Over the past four hours, total liquidations reached $23 million, of which roughly $22.65 million came from long positions.
The data indicates that traders betting on price increases were most affected as the market moved sharply lower.
Across exchanges, sentiment varied. Binance showed a long-to-short ratio of 0.79, suggesting a more cautious positioning among traders. In contrast, OKX recorded a ratio of 2.23, pointing to a stronger bullish bias despite the broader downturn.
Technical breakdown signals caution
The four-hour chart shows one of SAHARA’s steepest declines since launch. The token had traded in a range of about $0.03 to $0.04 for several weeks before selling pressure intensified. On June 9, the price dropped sharply from around $0.035 to near $0.015 in a single session, erasing more than half its value.
This also forced the coin to fall below its 50-exponential moving average, which was around $0.0329. The momentum indicator MACD became negative following the sell-off. The technical breakdown suggests that momentum has fallen, and traders are now waiting for some stability before going long again.
Speculation grows as market searches for answers
The sharp drop led to speculations on potential reasons behind it on the Internet. In particular, crypto analyst Ryker opined that it could be caused by token vesting, but there is no evidence to prove this claim.
Separately, analyst Lucas pointed to reports that 500 million tokens were transferred to Upbit. He also noted that Sahara AI has ruled out any security vulnerabilities affecting its system.
Another user, Ryker on X, noted that a massive KOL unlock was on the way, hence the project deliberately dumped a massive amount of tokens in order to save heavy market selling after vesting.
“Many KOLs will receive tokens from the vesting project, so these two projects have to dump their prices to prevent early investors from selling at high prices,” Ryker said.
“An amount equal to roughly 20% of the circulating supply is set to unlock,” said another user on X, echoing the same narrative. “What happens after the unlock is hard to predict, but one thing is clear: before the event, the price nearly tripled in a short period of time.”
Despite the speculation, Sahara AI said it is still investigating the incident and has not identified a definitive cause behind the price collapse. But, Sahara AI has categorically denied any team or investor sales, security breaches, or contract vulnerabilities, attributing the massive transfers to pre-planned liquidity additions for its newly launched Chainlink CCIP cross-chain bridge. The team confirmed it is running a real-time internal investigation into the volatility and has opened a community governance vote on a compensation plan that could offer eligible $SAHARA holders restitution and priority access if approved. The token continues trading near session lows as the story develops.
Meanwhile, SAHARA remains close to recent lows as traders assess the situation. Market attention is focused on ongoing volatility, liquidation activity, and updates from the project’s investigation.
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