BNB (BNB) price is up today, rising 4% to $584. In doing so, the cryptocurrency has outperformed most of its market rivals, namely Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), whose gains in the same period sit around 0.64% and 0.22%, respectively.

Why is the BNB price up today?

Among the top catalysts driving the BNB's price rally on April 4 include the ongoing euphoria around the launch of synthetic dollar protocol, Ethena (ENA), and its rising crypto market dominance.

Ethena euphoria improves BNB demand

On March 29, Binance announced the inclusion of Ethena on the Binance Launchpool, noting that users could stake their BNB (and FDUSD) to farm ENA tokens from March 30 until April 1. The crypto exchange listed the ENA token for trading on April 2.

Related: Wormhole, Ethena and Waves are top 3 ‘trending’ tokens right now: Santiment

This period coincided with a slight increase in the total-value-locked (TVL) across the BNB Chain, as shown in the Defi Llama chart below.

In other words, the ability to farm ENA tokens by staking BNB spurred increased buying and holding activities, leading to price gains. BNB price rallied similarly around the cross-chain gaming platform Portal (PORTAL) 's launch on the Binance Launchpool in February.

BNB's crypto market dominance rises

The euphoria around Ethena further coincides with BNB's rising crypto market dominance, indicating a rise in capital inflows to its market compared to its rivaling assets. Notably, the BNB Dominance Index (BNB.D) has risen approximately 6.5% from its recent lows on April 2.

The latest surge in BNB's market share mirrors the notable expansion seen in other leading altcoins like Solana and Ether, predominantly against Bitcoin, which commands nearly half of the market's total value.

For instance, the widely-tracked BNB/BTC pair has rallied 7.6% since April 2 to reach a two-week high of 0.00887 BTC on April 4.

BNB Chain's foray into memecoins

BNB's price surge further takes cues from the BNB Chain's strategic expansion into the memecoin market, a move seemingly inspired by the rapid network growth observed in its competitor Solana network within the same niche.

BNB Chain has announced a commitment of up to $1 million in rewards for developers who launch their memecoin projects on its network, according to a statement shared with Cointelegraph on April 2. Since then, BNB's price has gained 2%.

Such strategic investments can potentially drive BNB's utility and demand, given that it plays a central role in transaction fees, governance, and participation in new projects within the BNB Chain network.

BNB price technical bounce

BNB's gains today are part of a rebound move that started after testing its prevailing bull pennant's lower trendline, as shown below.

The price eyes a run-up toward the pennant's upper trendline, and will likely consolidate inside its triangle-shaped area in the coming days.

However, since bull pennants are considered bullish continuation patterns, BNB's likelihood of breaking out toward $950, up about 65% from current prices, should be higher by June.

The upside target is the sum of BNB's breakout level (in this case, it is considered at the pennant's apex point) and the height of its previous uptrend.

Related: BNB’s 12% weekly surge: peaking or just getting started?

On the other hand, the bull pennant pattern will risk invalidation if BNB price decisively breaks below its lower trendline. This would shift focus to the 50-day and 20-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), marked by red and blue waves, respectively, located at $500 and $360 that should serve as potentially strong support zones.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.