Terra’s new token, LUNA 2.0, recorded one of the market’s sharpest moves during Friday trading, climbing more than 200% against the U.S. dollar at its intraday peak. According to the reported market data, the token rose from a low of $1.90 to as high as $6.87 before pulling back to around $5.41.
The rally unfolded during a broader upswing across digital assets. Bitcoin advanced 9.4% and traded above the $21,000 zone, while ether gained 4.9% and moved past $1,700. Against that backdrop, LUNA 2.0 emerged as one of the session’s most volatile outperformers, drawing renewed attention to the Terra ecosystem after a period of deep skepticism from the market.
Strong Short-Term Performance and Heavy Volume
Even after retreating from its daily high, LUNA remained up roughly 175.2% on the day. Over a two-week period, the token had gained 224.1% against the dollar, giving it a reported market capitalization of approximately $978 million. The speed of the move was matched by a surge in trading activity: global LUNA volume reached about $2.55 billion on Friday, making it the seventh-largest crypto asset by 24-hour trading volume at the time.
That spike in volume suggests the rally was not confined to thin liquidity conditions. Instead, it reflected broad speculative participation across multiple trading venues and quote currencies. The data also showed that Terra-related assets were among the most actively traded instruments in the market during the session.
LUNC and USTC Also Remain in Focus
Interest was not limited to LUNA 2.0 alone. Luna Classic (LUNC), the token associated with Terra’s original chain, ranked even higher in 24-hour trading activity, generating approximately $2.81 billion in global volume and placing sixth overall. In price terms, however, the picture was mixed: LUNC was up 69.5% over the last seven days but had fallen 13.6% in the previous 24 hours.
The former algorithmic stablecoin UST, now known as USTC, also posted gains. USTC traded near $0.047, close to a U.S. nickel in value, and rose 4% on Friday. Over the past week, it had increased 27.3%, while its two-week gain stood at 55.9%. The token’s market capitalization was reported at around $461.67 million, with about $211.24 million in daily global trading volume.
These figures indicate that trading interest had spread across both the revived Terra chain and the older Terra-linked assets. Even so, performance across the complex remained uneven, underscoring that market participants were rotating among Terra-related tokens rather than moving in lockstep.
Trading Pairs Show Stablecoin Dominance
Breakdowns of LUNA trading pairs revealed that stablecoins played a dominant role in the session’s price discovery. Roughly 57% of all LUNA trades were paired with USDT, while BUSD accounted for another 32%. The Turkish lira (TRY) represented 7.15% of total LUNA trading, followed by USDC at 2.27%.
By contrast, direct U.S. dollar trading represented only 0.83% of global LUNA swaps. Other quote assets mentioned in the market mix included the euro, ether, and USDD. This breakdown highlights how much of the token’s activity was mediated through stablecoin liquidity rather than fiat spot markets, a pattern commonly seen during high-volatility sessions in crypto.
Terra 2.0 DeFi TVL Doubles
The price rally also coincided with a notable expansion in Terra 2.0’s decentralized finance footprint. According to the data cited, total value locked across Terra 2.0 DeFi protocols doubled in a single day, rising from $24.72 million to $51.48 million.
Among the largest applications on the network, Riskharbor led with approximately $33.59 million in locked value. Astroport followed with $16.7 million, while Stader held around $2.61 million. The increase in TVL suggests that the renewed speculative interest around LUNA 2.0 was not limited to spot markets alone, but was also reflected in on-chain capital deployment within the ecosystem’s DeFi layer.
Market Attention Returns, but Volatility Remains Central
LUNA 2.0’s surge brought Terra back into the spotlight, at least for the day, as traders chased momentum in one of the market’s most controversial ecosystems. The combination of a triple-digit price jump, multi-billion-dollar trading volume, and a sharp rise in DeFi TVL indicates that the move had both exchange-based and on-chain dimensions.
At the same time, the retreat from the intraday high serves as a reminder of how unstable these rallies can be. While the token remained sharply higher even after giving back part of its gains, the session demonstrated that sentiment around Terra-linked assets remains highly reactive and heavily driven by short-term flows.
For now, the numbers show a clear burst of renewed activity: LUNA 2.0 up more than 200% at peak, $2.55 billion in trading volume, and Terra 2.0 DeFi TVL doubling to $51.48 million. Whether that momentum can persist will likely depend on continued liquidity, sustained user participation, and whether the broader market backdrop remains supportive.