Most projects allocate tokens to their team, early investors and treasury under a vesting schedule, typically with an initial cliff followed by gradual release. Each unlock moves tokens from the locked pool into circulating supply, adding potential sellers whose entry price is usually far below the market's.
Because the dates are published in advance, they are among the few genuinely predictable supply events in crypto. Size relative to existing circulating supply and daily volume is what determines whether one matters: an unlock worth a few days of volume is absorbed quietly, while one worth several weeks of it is a different matter. Prices often weaken ahead of a large unlock as the market positions for it.
Does a token unlock always push the price down?
No. What matters is size relative to liquidity and whether the market has already priced it in. Small unlocks pass unnoticed; large ones relative to daily volume are the ones that move prices.
Last updated October 17, 2026