Moo Deng (MOODENG), Pnut (PNUT), and Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) have recently experienced a notable price surge. Each coin recorded a three-digit increase and reached its highest level in several months.
Although the momentum has slowed down slightly, BeInCrypto consulted experts to understand the factors behind the recent meme coin explosion.
What Stands Behind the Surge of MOODENG, PNUT, and GOAT?
For an overview, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant decline in early April after President Trump announced tariffs. Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below the $80,000 level, leading to massive industry-wide losses. However, a slight recovery began to form.
Meme coins like MOODENG, PNUT, and GOAT started growing in mid-April. On May 8th, they experienced consecutive increases, reaching unprecedented highs since the beginning of the year.
MOODENG recorded the strongest increase, rising 771% in less than a week. GOAT followed with a 257% increase. PNUT also increased by 220% in value.
A crucial moment came on May 11th when Binance Alpha announced the listing of MOODENG and GOAT. Chris Duggan, Senior Marketing Director at ChainGPT, explained that this decision "added fuel to the fire."
He emphasized that this price surge resulted from a combination of initial community excitement, attraction from influencers and key opinion leaders (KOLs) on X, and low liquidity. These factors facilitated a rapid price increase.
"Social media doesn't just amplify—today it creates trends. Coins can go from unknown to global focus in just a few hours thanks to a few timely posts," Duggan told BeInCrypto.
However, he added that Binance's involvement further consolidated the upward momentum. Duggan noted that this exposure could quickly transform niche coins into popular assets.
"Initially driven by small investors, but when smart money discovered it, the price surge became more robust," he said.
Besides these factors, Dean Chen, an analyst at Bitunix, pointed out several important factors behind the meme coin price surge.
"The price increase of MOODENG, PNUT, and GOAT is not due to a single event but the result of a combination of capital circulation, market narrative, platform exposure, and overall sentiment," Chen said.
He explained that major meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and dogwifhat (WIF) had experienced significant price increases earlier in the year. This, in turn, led to more cautious market expectations.
As a result, speculative capital shifted towards smaller market cap meme coins like MOODENG and PNUT. These meme coins became primary investment targets. Chen noted that these coins attract whale accumulation when prices are low, and when price volatility occurs, it triggers FOMO among small investors.
The analyst also emphasized that the increase of these meme coins is closely tied to market sentiment. With Bitcoin surpassing $100,000 in May, investors' risk appetite increased, leading to a shift towards high-volatility assets like meme coins.
"During bullish market phases, meme coins typically show high elasticity and provide space for speculation, making them popular targets for concentrated capital bets," Chen revealed to BeInCrypto.
Although the initial surge might be extraordinary, it was also short-lived. By mid-May, increasing selling pressure pushed the coins to lose some of their profits. However, they maintained resilience, and a slight recovery occurred.
At the time of writing, the values of MOODENG, PNUT, and GOAT remain 675.7%, 112.2%, and 237.9% higher compared to their early April lows.
Performance of MOODENG, PNUT, and GOAT Meme Coins. Source: TradingViewThis volatility raises concerns about the sustainability of meme coin price surges. Chen believes that capital rotation into new meme coins demonstrates strong speculative characteristics. He emphasized that, from a short-term perspective, this capital flow wave reflects an emotion-driven euphoric cycle.
According to him, market participants typically focus on quick profits. Therefore, under the influence of community narratives and online sentiment, some low market cap tokens are rapidly pushed multiple times in a very short period.
"However, such euphoria often lacks solid fundamental support and long-term development strategies, making it prone to bubble formation. Price surge and correction cycles are typically very short, usually completing a speculative round within three to seven days," Chen warned.
Moreover, Chen noted that these short-term bubbles often exhibit certain characteristics. Many projects rely solely on viral meme content or attractive themes, lacking practical applications or technical development to support them.
The teams behind these projects often quickly withdraw funds when prices rise, sometimes coordinating large sales through internal wallets, which leads to frequent "rug pulls" in the community. Furthermore, community interest typically erupts but is short-lived, emphasizing the high speculative nature of the current cycle.
"From a long-term perspective, the meme coin space has potential to emerge from high volatility with a few projects proving their long-term viability," he commented.
Chen explains that sustainable meme coins typically have a more developed narrative framework, strong community engagement, and some potential for development and market promotion. After the bubble bursts, these surviving coins may emerge as "meme blue chips", becoming the primary target in the next capital rotation phase.
He also emphasizes that the current capital movement should not be viewed merely as a bubble, but as a reflection of market preferences for high-risk, high-return assets, especially in a rising market that favors highly volatile assets. Therefore, he predicts that this market activity may continue for some time.
