Polkadot's native token, DOT, surged over 10% on Thursday, April 16, 2026, recovering from a sharp sell-off earlier in the week triggered by a security incident on a cross-chain bridge. The price reached an intraday high of $1.29, boosting its market capitalization back above $2.16 billion.
The rally followed a week where DOT fell nearly 13% due to market panic after an attacker exploited the Hyperbridge gateway, minting approximately 1 billion bridged DOT tokens on the Ethereum network. The incident resulted in estimated losses of around $269,000, and the attacker attempted to launder the funds through Tornado Cash.
Critical clarity from the Polkadot team helped stabilize the situation. They confirmed via social media that the exploit only affected DOT tokens bridged to Ethereum via Hyperbridge and did not compromise the security of Polkadot's native Relay Chain, its parachains, or DOT held within the Polkadot ecosystem. This distinction allowed the community to view the event as an isolated bridge vulnerability rather than a fundamental flaw in Polkadot's core architecture.
The reassurance led major exchanges Upbit and Bithumb, which had temporarily suspended DOT deposits as a precaution, to move toward resuming normal services. This action helped alleviate liquidity concerns and restored trading normalcy.
Technically, the rebound was preceded by DOT finding support near a critical psychological level of $1.15, which was also an area where the Relative Strength Index (RSI) signaled deeply oversold conditions (dipping to 33.80), prompting a relief bounce. Daily trading volume spiked 40% to $341 million, reflecting renewed buying interest.
While the immediate bearish pressure has eased, analysts note DOT maintains a bearish technical posture, trading below key moving averages. The immediate resistance is seen at $1.31, with a successful break above potentially opening the door for a move toward $1.42 or even $1.50. The 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1.36 presents another key hurdle. Failure to hold gains could see a retest of support near $1.10.
