Sui Price: SUI Is Up 30% in Six Days — And Traders Say It’s Just Getting Started

TLDR

• SUI surged up to 21.4% in 24 hours as a market-wide short squeeze hit crypto
• Bitcoin hit ~$85,000 and ~$650 million in shorts were liquidated across the market
• SUI futures open interest jumped 29% to ~$402 million, showing leveraged buying
• Key support sits at $0.9725; losing $0.9542 could push price back into the old range
• Sui Basecamp conference on Oct 7–8 in Singapore is being cited as a catalyst

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SUI price surged as a broad crypto short squeeze pushed altcoins sharply higher, with SUI standing out as one of the top gainers across the market.

Bitcoin climbed to around $85,000 during the move, triggering roughly $740 million in liquidations over 24 hours. About $650 million of that came from short positions, meaning forced buyers drove much of the price action across the market.

SUI was repeatedly named among the biggest altcoin winners. At the peak of the move, SUI was up around 21.4% over 24 hours, putting it in the same bracket as DOGE and AVAX as the main beneficiaries of the squeeze.

Crypto analyst CryptoKaleo posted on X during the move, calling it a breakout for SUI. He wrote: “$SUI — And there’s your breakout. The squeeze from $1.00 to $2.00 should happen swiftly from here. People forget how fast SUI can run when it starts to move.” His comments came as the token crossed through the $1.00 level that had been capping price action for months.

$SUI

And there’s your breakout.

The squeeze from $1.00 to $2.00 should happen swiftly from here.

People forget how fast SUI can run when it starts to move. https://t.co/ieFy7EE6Cj pic.twitter.com/C7KwJ9mf2h

— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) September 21, 2026

Leverage Drove the Move

SUI’s own derivatives data backs up the scale of the rally. Futures open interest jumped 28.9% to around $402 million, while price was rising at the same time.

Rising open interest alongside rising price means traders were adding new leveraged long positions, not just closing shorts. That combination points to a momentum chase on top of the underlying market squeeze.

SUI had also been on a six-session winning streak heading into the move, up around 30.9% over that run and trading at its highest level since May 2026.

On the technical side, $0.9725 is the key level to watch. That price was the top of SUI’s multi-month range, and the token is now trying to hold it as support. Above that level, the next targets are $1.0370, $1.1637, and $1.38.

A drop below $0.9542 would break the current higher-high, higher-low structure and could send price back into the old range.

Ecosystem Adds to the Story

Beyond the squeeze, traders are pointing to improving on-chain data to support the move. SUI DeFi TVL has been cited at around $480–550 million, with stablecoin market cap near $475 million and roughly 129,000 active addresses.

Walrus Protocol also joined Sui Basecamp as a Diamond sponsor. The project, built by former Meta engineers, focuses on verifiable and portable data infrastructure for AI-related use cases.

The Sui Basecamp conference, scheduled for October 7–8 in Singapore, is being cited as a near-term catalyst. Teasers around “agentic payments” and “confidential transfers” have been circulating ahead of the event.

SUI’s 24-hour volume rose strongly alongside the open interest jump, with one trader noting the move was “not a thin candle pull,” citing the combination of leverage and traded size as evidence the rally had real backing.