- The Optimism Foundation’s symbolic buyback proposal will be voted on January 22, 2026.
- Over the past year, OP’s price has fallen sharply and market sentiment has largely been bearish.
- A buyback could catalyze a rally; the original poster’s target range is $0.52–$0.75.
Optimism’s OP token traded at approximately $0.30 on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, with a slight gain over the prior 24 hours as the community moved toward a key governance vote.
After reaching an intraday high of $0.37 last week, the token could retrace to its December low of $0.25 if it falls back to current levels.
Will the Optimism Foundation’s proposed buyback—using Superchain revenue to purchase OP on the open market each month—be enough to support a sustained bullish market?
Details and impact of the Optimism buyback
According to the proposal submitted earlier this month, the governance vote is scheduled for January 22, 2026.
The Optimism Foundation is asking the community to approve directing 50% of incoming Sequencer fees (Superchain revenue) toward open-market buybacks of OP.
A proposal for the next chapter of Optimism 🔴
The Optimism Foundation is putting forward a proposal to align the OP token with growing Superchain demand by directing 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to regular OP buybacks
— Optimism (@Optimism) January 8, 2026
If the vote passes, the program would begin in February, directing 50% of Superchain revenue toward OP buybacks, with purchases planned over the following year.
Similar to models used by other projects—such as dYdX’s 75% fee-for-buyback approach—Optimism plans to purchase tokens from the market. However, the bought tokens would be returned to the OP treasury rather than being immediately burned.
If tokens were burned instead, a reduced supply would signal confidence in both OP and Superchain dominance.
Optimism wrote at the time: “Through this buyback mechanism, OP shifts from a pure governance token to one closely aligned with Superchain growth.”
The mechanism targets companies that launch new chains on the Superchain, which are expected to increase baseline demand for OP.
OP token price outlook
OP has plunged roughly 94% from its March 2024 high of $4.85, a downtrend that has weighed on holder sentiment. Despite the buyback proposal, the near-term outlook remains largely bearish.
Unless projects like Optimism choose to burn repurchased tokens, bears may retain the upper hand. For comparison, BNB’s quarterly token burns helped push that token to new highs.
In the short term, a post-vote rebound could lift prices toward $0.52.
Optimism price chart
As the daily chart shows, the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages currently sit around $0.32 and $0.51 respectively, forming notable supply zones.
If the broader crypto market rebounds from current downside pressure, upside targets could appear between $0.60 and $0.75.
Gains in Ethereum and other leading ecosystem tokens would likely fuel any such outsized rebound.
However, bearish pressure means the psychological $1 level remains far out of reach for now.
Ongoing token unlocks will continue to cap upside. Should a new negative catalyst push the price back toward $0.25, selling pressure would likely intensify.