I noticed an interesting pattern in the market: when people talk about unlocks, they’re not just referring to a technical process but to a real factor that can drastically change the token’s price trajectory. Unlocks are phenomena that newcomers often underestimate, but experienced traders track almost by the hour.

The essence is simple: an unlock is the release of frozen tokens after investment rounds or special programs. But here’s the catch — the method of unlocking can vary greatly. There are linear unlocks, where tokens enter the market gradually in small portions. And there are cliff unlocks, where a huge volume is released all at once in a single day. And yes, an unlock is not just numbers in a table — it’s real pressure on the price.

Taking Bitcoin and Solana as examples. Both continuously receive new tokens, but due to their huge market caps, the impact is minimal. But for smaller projects like Stargate or Worldcoin, the situation is completely different. When an unlock accounts for 10-15% of the current supply, the market feels it fully. WLD, for example, has such a dilution potential that even at the current price of $0.27, its total market cap could be over $11 billion.

Last August was a real celebration for analysts. Wormhole planned to release 600 million tokens (33% of the supply), Mode — 185 million (14%), The Sandbox — 205 million (9%). That was serious — unlocks were a major test for each project. But interestingly, SAND grew despite the huge unlock in February. Meanwhile, AVAX and ARB experienced good corrections after their unlocks.

Why such a difference? The overall market trend plays a role here. If the crypto market is generally going up, unlocks might not even be noticed. But if the trend is downward — then every percentage of dilution works against the project.

Currently, Solana trades around $79, and Bitcoin stays at $66,580. For them, unlocks are not critical. But if you’re looking at altcoins, be sure to check the unlock schedule. It could be the very information that helps you avoid a mistake or catch a good moment. On Gate, you can track all these processes directly in the interface — a useful feature for those serious about analysis.