Aptos Surges 51% in Four Weeks, Outperforming Bitcoin and Ether

Aptos Token Surges Amidst Declining Network Liquidity

Aptos has experienced a notable surge in its native token, APT, over the past month, outperforming major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. However, this price appreciation is occurring alongside a significant decrease in stablecoin liquidity on the Aptos network, raising questions about the sustainability of the rally.

Price Performance and Discrepancies

According to data from The Defiant, the APT token saw a 51% increase over a four-week period. Other price tracking services, however, report gains ranging from 38.5% to 44% for the same period ending October 13, 2026. Regardless of the exact figure, APT’s performance surpassed that of the two largest crypto assets. In mid-October, the token was trading in the range of approximately $0.82 to $0.85.

A closer look at the past seven days reveals a less dynamic picture, with APT’s weekly return being nearly flat, suggesting that the bulk of the recent price movement occurred earlier in the month.

Declining Stablecoin Liquidity

In contrast to the token’s price ascent, stablecoin market capitalization on the Aptos network, as tracked by DefiLlama, has fallen by approximately 17.5% over the same four weeks, settling at around $910 million. Stablecoins are considered the essential working capital for any blockchain economy, and a shrinking supply typically indicates less capital available for deployment within the ecosystem.

This divergence between a rising token price and diminishing network liquidity presents a key tension in Aptos’s current narrative.

Catalysts for the Rally

Several factors appear to be contributing to APT’s recent performance. A significant event was the completion of Aptos’s four-year token unlock schedule for early contributors and investors on October 12, 2026. This concluded schedule resulted in a roughly 60% reduction in APT’s monthly emissions, decreasing from approximately 11.3 million tokens to about 4.5 million. This reduction in supply, timed with a price rally, aligns with a common market pattern where traders anticipate and position themselves ahead of known supply decreases.

Beyond the token unlock, Aptos Labs and the Aptos Foundation announced on October 9, 2026, over $50 million in commitments directed towards on-chain trading infrastructure and artificial intelligence-related projects.

Technologically, Aptos deployed an optional encrypted mempool on its mainnet between October 12-13, 2026. This feature is designed to mitigate Maximal Extractable Value (MEV), which refers to profits derived by bots and validators from observing and manipulating pending transactions. By encrypting the mempool, the network aims to prevent unauthorized access to transaction details before execution.

Furthermore, a proposal for a new execution engine named MonoMove is under consideration, which aims to enhance smart contract performance by up to 55 times. However, this remains a proposal and not a deployed feature.

The Bear Case and Future Outlook

The decline in on-chain stablecoins, as reported by DefiLlama, forms the basis of the bearish argument. A 17.5% drop suggests capital outflow rather than inflow, and the persistently low total value locked in DeFi on Aptos reinforces concerns that the token’s price appreciation may have outpaced actual network usage.

The $50 million in commitments towards trading infrastructure and the encrypted mempool can be viewed as strategic responses to address these liquidity and usage concerns, as enhanced security and trading capabilities can attract active traders.

The trajectory of stablecoin figures on DefiLlama will be a critical indicator moving forward. If these figures stabilize or begin to recover while APT maintains its gains, the rally will likely have a more solid foundation. Conversely, a continued decline in stablecoin liquidity could suggest that the price increase is primarily driven by supply-side factors rather than a genuine increase in ecosystem confidence and adoption.