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Lido Finance, the liquid staking protocol for the Ethereum (ETH) network, has experienced significant price declines over the past two weeks, largely influenced by the market’s downtrend and the lack of bullish momentum. However, a notable breakout could be in the making for the protocol’s native token, LDO, despite negative financial metrics.  Lido And Mellow Finance’s Partnership Despite the challenging market conditions, Lido has made notable strides within its ecosystem. Collaborating with Mellow Finance as part of the Lido Alliance, the protocol has introduced advanced decentralized finance (DeFi) strategies for stETH holders.  These strategies aim to leverage Mellow Finance’s permissionless Liquid Restaking Token (LRT) creation, enabling stETH holders to maximize asset utility through decentralized restaking and accumulating various rewards.  Related Reading: Solana On-Chain Indicators Suggests A Return Of Bullish Sentiment, Is It Time To Buy SOL? The newly launched vaults also aim to secure and flexible means for engaging with Ethereum staking and DeFi, increasing the liquidity and utility of stETH.  This partnership marks the initial phase of the Lido Alliance’s efforts to expand the Ethereum staking ecosystem through strategic collaborations with aligned projects. However, key metrics indicate a decline in the price of LDO, potentially following the footsteps of Ethereum, which has also seen a drop to $3,480 from its March peak of $3,990.  Negative Financial Metrics Lido’s Total Value Locked (TVL) experienced a 1.70% decrease, amounting to $35.39 billion, primarily influenced by ETH’s price decline.  The amount of ETH staked witnessed a mild increase of 0.26%, with a net increase of 19,392 ETH staked over the past week. Similarly, the quantity of (w)stETH in lending pools saw a moderate increase of 1.46%, reaching 2.66 million stETH, while the amount of w(stETH) in liquidity pools decreased by 3.13% to 89.3k stETH.  Moreover, the 7-day trading volume for (w)stETH stood at $1.03 billion, down by 19.7% compared to the previous week. Additionally, the total amount of wstETH bridged to Layer 2 solutions decreased by 2.86% to 136,893 wstETH. Analyzing the bridging statistics, the distribution of wstETH among various Layer 2 networks is as follows: Arbitrum: 69,676 wstETH (-6.07%) Optimism: 28,906 wstETH (+0.44%) Base: 15,429 wstETH (-6.35%) Scroll: 10,329 wstETH (+9.48%) Polygon: 8,522 wstETH (+0.07%) Linea: 2,928 wstETH (+20.59%) zkSync: 1,093 wstETH (-0.49%) LDO Price Targets Ranging From $6 To $17 Despite these metrics, crypto analyst Alex Clay remains optimistic about LDO’s future. Clay recently shared bullish predictions for LDO, envisioning significant breakouts if the bullish momentum resumes.  In a recent post on social media site X, Clay emphasized LDO’s 756 days of ascending accumulation, suggesting a potentially “massive breakout.” The analyst further outlined exciting price targets for bullish investors, ranging from $6.3 to $17.2. Related Reading: Dogecoin Under Pressure And ‘Going To Zero’, Analyst Says – Here’s Why LDO is trading at $1.88, representing a 3.5% decrease within the 24-hour timeframe and a decline of over 20% in the past two weeks. Notably, the token has witnessed a 74% decrease from its all-time high of $7.30 in June 2021. It remains to be seen whether positive developments within the Lido protocol and increased staking activity can help mitigate the losses. Additionally, Ethereum’s potential price recovery may impact LDO’s trajectory, potentially leading to a new uptrend aimed at reclaiming previously lost levels. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com