Deep Dive
1. Technical Weakness (Bearish Impact)
Overview: PENDLE broke below its 30-day SMA ($5.20) and 200-day EMA ($4.25) this week. The MACD histogram turned negative (-0.121), and the RSI (42) shows weakening momentum without being oversold.
What this means: The breakdown below $4.71 (61.8% Fibonacci retracement) suggests traders are taking profits after the 31% 60-day rally. Volume fell 11.8% during the drop, indicating limited panic selling but weak bid support.
What to look out for: A close below $4.29 (78.6% Fib) could trigger stops toward $4.00 psychological support.
2. TVL Churn Post-Maturity (Mixed Impact)
Overview: Pendle processed $898M in maturing assets last week (NullTX), temporarily reducing protocol fees and liquidity. TVL has rebounded to $9.3B, but short-term outflows create headwinds.
What this means: While Pendle has historically recovered from maturity events quickly, the timing coincided with broader DeFi leverage concerns. Traders may price in temporary reduced fee revenue until new capital rotates in.
3. Aave Liquidation Risks (Bearish Impact)
Overview: Over $6.4B of Pendle-linked assets (USDe, PTs) are collateralized on Aave. Chaos Labs warned that compressed yields could trigger mass liquidations if ETH staking returns dip below borrowing costs (The Block).
What this means: Pendle’s growth is tightly coupled with risky leverage loops. A 10% drop in sUSDe yields could force $1B+ of unwinding, creating sell pressure on PENDLE via reduced protocol activity.
Conclusion
PENDLE’s dip reflects profit-taking after its 2025 rally, combined with DeFi-specific risks from maturity cycles and overleveraged positions. The protocol’s robust TVL recovery mechanism and 50% yield market share suggest weakness may be temporary.
Key watch: Can Pendle’s Boros platform (perps yield trading) offset Aave-related risks? Monitor the Sept 26 USDe maturity and ETH staking APR trends.