- A meme-coin inspired by a pygmy hippo from a zoo in Thailand, MOODENG has grabbed headlines after responding to a perpetual contract launch on Binance with a 125% surge in just 24 hours.
- This meme coin is currently the no.1 trending coin on Pump.fun, surpassing the likes of GOAT and GNON.
Solana-based meme coin Moo Deng (MOODENG) has soared by 125% in the last 24 hours and 352% in the last 90 days to become the 279th largest crypto with a market cap of $154 million. At press time, the asset was trading at $0.1612, outpacing the likes of Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) by weekly returns.
Reason Behind This Surge
Investigating the factors propelling the asset by this margin, we discovered that the recent announcement by Binance to launch MOODENGUSDT Perpetual Contract was the main catalyst. According to the official statement, trading for this asset was reported to commence on October 25, 2024, at 10:00 (UTC). Fascinatingly, this is expected to be available with a leverage of up to 75x.
Analyzing the details of this launch, we uncovered that the MOODENGUSDT Perpetual Contract would have a settlement asset of USDT, a tick size of 0.00001, and a capped funding rate of +2.00% / -2.00%. Additionally, the funding fee settlement frequency would be every four hours, the trading hours would be 24/7, and a multiple-asset mode would be supported. According to the exchange, this decision is to expand the list of trading choices offered on the Binance Futures while enhancing its trading experience.
Just like any other listing, Binance has pointed out that they reserve the right to subject the perpetual contract to changes based on market risk conditions. This implies that the “funding fee, tick size, maximum leverage, initial margin, and maintenance margin requirements” could be changed in the future.
What is MOODENG
According to our research, MOODENG was launched on the Solana meme factory Pump.fun in September 2024. A few weeks after launch, the market cap skyrocketed to $70 million. Based on the research, we noted that the name was inspired by a pygmy hippo, Moo Deng, which rose to popularity at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand. Interestingly, the name translates to “bouncy pork,” meanwhile, a short video featuring this two-month hippo has gone viral and become one of the most used memes on the internet.
Moo deng is never dry or calm😭 pic.twitter.com/EgUpj64Ad3— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) September 19, 2024
In just about a month after its creation, Moo Deng’s X page has attained a total follower count of 75k, surpassing that of Gigachad (GIGA), which has a market cap of $572 million but an X follower count of 18.7k. Currently, MOODENG is the number one trending meme coin on Pump.fun, surpassing the likes of GOAT, GNON, and ORANGE.
Looking at Coinglass data, we observed that the Moo Deng futures Open Interest (OI) has also surged by 173% to $57.47 million in just 24 hours. On top of that, the derivative volume has skyrocketed by 234% to $327.77 million. According to our analysts, this indicates an uptick in investors’ interest, which could force a bullish continuation.
Generally, this surge has positively affected the performance of the Solana ecosystem which has also recorded an average price growth of 4% in the last 24 hours.
