Speculation about possible listings on two major exchanges may have reignited whale interest, driving PNUT’s recent rally.
Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) rose 15.4% over the past 24 hours, exchanging hands at $0.7102 while bringing its market cap to over $710 million. The meme coin’s daily trading volume was also up 190%, hovering over $596 million at press time.
PNUT’s rally came despite a 1.8% drop in the broader meme coin market, valued at $107.3 billion, and a 3.1% drop in the global crypto market, which stood at $3.41 trillion at press time.
Why did PNUT surge?
The meme coin rallied as whales took up interest in it.
According to a Dec. 30 X post by on-chain tracker Spot On Chain, a whale withdrew 10 million PNUT tokens, worth approximately $6.1 million, from the crypto exchange Binance. Nearly all the tokens were transferred to a decentralized wallet labeled “76yGJ,” making it the sixth-largest PNUT holder. Notably, the tokens withdrawn mark 1% of the total supply of PNUT tokens in circulation.
Just three days earlier, crypto.news reported that a different whale had transferred 15,140 SOL to heavily invest in PNUT and two other popular meme coins. The move mirrors a trend from Dec. 12, when another whale withdrew 8.41 million PNUT tokens, valued at $10.68 million at the time, from Binance after creating a new wallet.
Whale accumulation is typically viewed as a bullish signal for an asset’s price, as retail traders often follow these investment patterns, anticipating an uptrend in the asset while aiming to make quick gains from the potential price surge.
PNUT’s rally also came amid a surge in demand from futures traders. According to data from CoinGlass, the open interest in its futures market has jumped 35% over the previous day to over $222.92 million when writing.
However, the biggest catalyst likely driving the Squirrel-themed token’s price surge appears to be market speculation surrounding a possible listing of the altcoin in two of the premier exchanges in the U.S., Coinbase and Robinhood.
Coinbase officially included the asset in its listing roadmap on Dec. 11. However, the exchange is yet to unveil an exact date when the token would be available for trading.
Meanwhile, market commentators also speculate that Robinhood will list the meme coin as it has already secured a listing on top-tier global exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Bybit, among others.
More recently, PNUT was listed on Blockchain.com and the Indian crypto exchange Zebpay.
Meme coins typically tend to strongly rally following a listing on a major centralized exchange due to the added exposure. As crypto.news reported earlier PNUT rallied over 20% after Coinbase said it was considering listing it.
Community sentiment surrounding the meme coin appears largely bullish, with 78% of 73.6k votes anticipating further gains, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Meanwhile, per CoinCarp, the total number of PNUT holders rose by 10% in December, contributing to improved liquidity and a stronger community base.
