Wall Street Tests Avalanche for 24/7 Tokenized Trading: AVAX Drops 8% After Major Upgrade

Avalanche (AVAX) slid about 8% after its largest upgrade, Helicon, went live on September 22, 2026, even though traders had largely priced in the change. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)—which owns the New York Stock Exchange—has been testing Avalanche for roughly a year as a platform to trade tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs 24/7. Still, AVAX rose 25% over the week to $10.31 and was up 55% from $7.60 on September 17 to $11.80 on September 21. Helicon shortened the minimum staking lock-up from 14 days to 48 hours, potentially increasing near-term sell pressure.