Key Takeaways
- The highly anticipated debut of the Pudgy Penguins’ native token, PENGU, has not gone as planned after the meme coin lost 50% of its value in less than 24 hours.
- PENGU debuted on Binance, KuCoin, Bybit, and OKX on December 17, generating over $425 million in trading volume in the initial hours. Its price surged to a record $0.068 before dropping to $0.031 amid heavy selling pressure.
- The decline can be attributed to sellers outpacing buyers in the market, creating intense selling pressure for PENGU. Meanwhile, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs dropped from a high of 36 ETH to 16 ETH, resulting in the collection falling back to third position in the NFT ranking.
- One trader turned a $6 initial investment in PENGU into a $87,000 profit. The individual purchased the tokens on pre-sale and created a liquidity pool on the Raydium DEX before its debut on major exchanges. When PENGU began trading, many users unknowingly swapped into the trader’s pool.
PENGU, the native cryptocurrency of the popular Pudgy Penguins NFT collection, has plunged more than 50% following its debut on leading exchanges after airdrop recipients and early adopters rushed to turn a profit by selling their tokens. While its price initially surged to $0.068, it quickly fell to $0.031 amid heavy selling pressure.
PENGU Coin Launches On Binance, KuCoin, OKX, And ByBit, Recording Over $400 Million In Trading Volume
Leading crypto exchanges Binance, OKX, Bybit, and KuCoin listed PENGU for spot trading on December 17, 2024.
The much-anticipated token airdrop came during the initial hours of trading. As per the Pudgy Penguin website, nearly half of PENGU’s total supply of 88.88 billion tokens have been distributed to community members, with around 26% earmarked for NFT holders.
According to data compiled by CoinGecko, PENGU launched with a market capitalization of around $2.8 billion and generated over $90 million in trading volume in less than an hour, but the Solana-based token’s valuation has dropped to less than $2 billion since.
The meme coin’s decline can be attributed to the sharp drop in the value of Pudgy Penguin NFTs, with its floor price going from 33 ETH ($126,839) to 16 ETH ($61,497). The Ethereum-based digital collectibles recently surpassed Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) to rank as the second-largest by market cap. It has now fallen back to third place after BAYC reclaimed the spot with a floor price of 18.89 ETH ($72,605).
At press time, the floor price for Pudgy Penguins is 16.77 ETH ($64,457). While the Pudgy Penguins team has not announced any specific use case for PENGU, it is believed the token is expected to play a major role in the NFT project’s governance.
Despite Intense Selling Pressure, Savvy Traders Made Massive Profit From $PENGU
Trading activity for PENGU intensified in the first four hours after launch, hitting $425 million in volume, with data showing more than 250,000 holders for the token. However, data from DexScreener revealed a significant imbalance in market sentiment, with sellers outpacing buyers by 111,000 to 59,000, which became a catalyst in creating downward pressure on its price.
On-chain analytics platform LookonChain shared further insights into the token’s volatility in an X post. Many traders bought and sold PENGU aiming for quick profits, with one notable trade involving an individual who purchased 5.3 million PENGU and sold them all within 20 minutes, earning $13.72 million in the process.
Another savvy trader turned a mere $6 investment in PENGU into a massive $87,000 lot. This happened as exchange users rushed to trade PENGU following its official launch, unknowingly swapping into the trader’s pool.
According to Arkham Intelligence, this trader bought the $6 worth of PENGU ahead of its main liquidity pools launching on Solana. Anticipating a rally, they deposited the tokens on Solana-based DEX Raydium, pairing them with $1,100 worth of SOL to create a liquidity pool. However, when the official launch date for PENGU was announced, many users rushed to trade it, ending up swapping into the trader’s pool at unfavorable prices, allowing the cunning trader to make a profit of $87,000 in SOL.
Shortly after PENGU’s launch, Binance was the first to announce that it would list the token for spot trading in the USD, BNB, FDUSD, and TRY pairs. Additionally, the exchange also announced plans for a PENGU airdrop for users who participated in its HODLer Airdrops program.
The heavy-selling activity currently observed for PENGU stems from early investors and associated wallets, who hold a large portion of the token’s circulating supply. This also indicates there could be further downward pressure on its price.
Pudgy Penguins is a collection of 8,888 NFTs, each representing a unique image of the project’s iconic penguin mascot. Since its launch in 2021, the Ethereum-based NFT project has released other collections, such as Lil’Pudgys – a collection of 22,000 baby penguins – and Pudgy Rods, a collection depicting penguin-themed fishing rods.
The team has said that those who own any of these NFTs are eligible to claim PENGU coins by showing proof of ownership on the Ethereum blockchain. The collectibles are distributed among nearly 5,000 wallets and have raised over $400 million in sales since their debut.
Despite the downward trend, PENGU is currently trading at $0.03314 – up 563% in value over the past 24 hours and boasting a market cap of $2.04 billion and a trading volume of $2.39 billion.
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