The price of River has gained value by almost 10 times, rising from $2 in mid-December to $20 as of today. The token rallied as Maelstrom, the crypto fund founded by Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, invested in the project. Now that the price is crashing after a big pump, an analyst calls this ‘price manipulation’ and warns that a dump is coming soon.
The chain-abstraction stablecoin system River (RIVER) was on an uptrend, outperforming the broader bearish sentiment in the crypto market since December. The token was trading at around the $2 price level back in December 2025 and then appreciated by almost 10X, rising to $19, with Arthur Hayes’s crypto fund Maelstrom investing in the project.
Although the bulls pushed the price higher, RIVER hit the $25 resistance level, then it rebounded towards the $19 price level, despite being listed on the HTX exchange yesterday. Usually, a listing on an exchange will produce a rally, and the prices keep going up, but it was not to be.
Bull strength is fading quickly
When looking at the technical signals, it shows a bearish overview, as RIVER continues to fluctuate inside the bearish rising wedge since the beginning of 2026. The token made higher highs and higher lows until it found resistance at nearly $25. After hitting the resistance level, the token rebounded off it and is now resting on the lower trendline, with a value of $19.
Naturally, the prices should now rise towards the upper trendline as it tries to complete the rising wedge, then break down at completion. However, the token once again rising toward the upper trendline is questionable, as there is a bearish divergence, shown on the chart. This shows that the bulls’ strength is so low that the RIVER could be struggling to form a new higher high, let alone completing the pattern.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows this waning strength of the bulls by making lower highs while RIVER makes a higher high. As such, it could crash to the $12 support level.
Additionally, a crypto netizen warned of an upcoming dump, calling this price action a price manipulation. According to the netizen, RIVER could crash to $10.
