Although the market is experiencing an enormous pullback from its month-long rally, a few outliers continue on their upward march. Stacks (STX) is one of the few altcoins that stemmed the bearish tide and even went against the grain of the market. According to Coingecko, the token is up nearly 21% in the weekly timeframe. However, STX is starting to feel the pressure. As of writing, the token is already down 3% in the past hour. This brings the question of whether STX bulls can continue the rally or will falter along with the others. Related Reading: Solana Threatens To Unseat Ethereum In Trade Volume With $1 Billion In Single Day A New Project Enters The Fray In an exciting turn of events, the Stacks Status X account posted an update about network congestion that happened yesterday. “An exciting new project bringing Ordinals and Stacks closer together launched this weekend. We’re thrilled to see it, but flagging that as a result, the network is seeing increased fees and likely congestion,” said the X account on their recent thread. This event is taken as a sign that Stacks is entering a painful growing phase that may or may not signal a brighter future for the network. However, running alongside this congestion is the most recent blog post of the dev team. An exciting new project bringing Ordinals and Stacks closer together launched this weekend. We’re thrilled to see it, but flagging that as a result, the network is seeing increased fees and likely congestion. More👇 — Stacks Status (@stacksstatus) December 17, 2023 According to muneeb.btc, the code for the Nakamoto Testnet (now branded as Neon) is not complete and will be launched by the end of the month. Nakamoto will be the update that will define the network. STXUSD trading at $1.095 on the daily chart: TradingView.com The Stacks’s Notion site announced: “The Nakamoto release brings many new capabilities and improvements to the Stacks blockchain by focusing on a set of core advancements: improving transaction speed, enhancing finality guarantees for transactions, mitigating Bitcoin miner MEV (miner extractable value) opportunities that affect PoX, and boosting robustness against chain reorganizations.” If this testnet launch betters the usability of the network and the experience of its users, it will bring a certain bullish yearend for STX. Related Reading: Internet Computer Loses Grip On $10, But Still Inks 82% Rally – Details Stacks Stuck In Between Two Rocks At the time of writing, STX bulls are trying to break out of the $1.1185 price ceiling which has been held by the bears since the start of the month. If the bulls manage to take this price level, STX will continue to reach higher highs. However, the current market conditions might prohibit such price movements. Even with a bullish case for the yearend, the token might stabilize between $0.9594 and $1.1185 in the coming days. Featured image from Pixabay
