- Story traded Monday near lows around $2.12, but has since staged a sharp recovery.
- IP climbed above $2.65 as trading volume surged more than 400% to $198 million.
- Buyers may ride the bullish momentum and target $3 or higher.
IP, the native token of Story Protocol, outperformed many altcoins over the past 24 hours.
At the time of writing, the token had risen more than 22% to its highest level since early December 2025.
Other notable gainers included Monero, Canton and Aerodrome Finance. Ethereum remains positioned around a key level while aiming toward $3,500, and its price action continues to influence broader market sentiment.
Story is a layer-1 blockchain project focused on tokenizing and managing intellectual property for creators in the programmable AI era, positioning itself as a leading platform in that niche.
Its gains come amid a broader rally for privacy-focused altcoins, and IP’s price uptick coincided with a daily trading-volume increase of more than 400%.
IP price cleared $2.50 on huge volume
As noted, the Story token hit an inflection point this week.
When the price decisively pushed beyond $2.50, buyers stepped in at significantly higher 24-hour trading volume.
Bulls drove the asset above $2.10 and then past $2.65. Data showed trading volume spiking over 450% to $198 million.
The rally reflects strong bullish momentum, and IP could extend its rise toward the $3 level. Traders regard $3 as a psychological resistance; a clean breakout above that level could open the door to further gains.
From a technical standpoint, the token trades above its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $2.31, providing solid support for continued upside.
If the broader major cryptocurrencies flip to a more positive trend, IP may have additional room to run.
Price chartStory on TradingView
However, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at around 73, entering overbought territory.
That implies a potential pullback as profit-taking emerges. Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) shows some indecision, with the histogram indicating increasing weakness.
Story gains as Monero leads top altcoins higher
As the chart shows, IP delivered impressive gains today.
The fresh bullish leg pushed the token to a high of $2.65, representing a more than 22% increase in 24 hours, in line with strong moves across several altcoins.
Monero (XMR) led privacy coins higher, with XMR trading near $600 in a strong surge.
$XMR took the throne from $ZEC and is now leading the privacy bull wave, looking really strong, after reaching new All Time Highs! pic.twitter.com/wCzF8781hm
— Rand (@cryptorand) January 12, 2026
A script for the embedded tweet was previously included and has been removed to keep the page clean.
As momentum picked up, other coins that have reappeared in recent sessions, including Zcash (ZEC), also rose. ZEC has been attempting to move past development hurdles and recovered roughly 5%, trading above $410.
Monero and Zcash remain the largest privacy-focused coins, but increased regulatory scrutiny—illustrated by restrictions in some jurisdictions—has placed privacy tokens in the spotlight and influenced market dynamics.