Popcat emerged as the top gainer this week, driven by improved trader sentiment and a sharp rise in its futures open interest.
Popcat (POPCAT) rose over 35% in the last seven days, hitting a new all-time high of $1.26 on Oct. 5. Most of these gains came within the last 24 hours. the token rose 20.6% from its intraday low of $0.98.
The Solana-based token was also up 112% over the past month, making it the second-largest gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, boasting a market cap exceeding $1.2 billion, according to CoinGecko.
One of the key bullish arguments for Popcat is its widely distributed ownership, with large holders controlling just 17% of the total supply per CoinCarp data.
The same cannot be said for its competitors like Bonk (BONK) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which are far more concentrated, with the top 10 wallets holding 52% and 61% of the supply, respectively.
This makes Popcat less vulnerable to “whale” manipulation and offers a more stable, balanced trading environment.
Bulls remain in control
The coin’s futures open interest is up 344% to a record $191.11 million, signaling that traders are heavily positioning for further price gains.
On the 1D POPCAT/USDT chart, the recent price action has pushed the token above the upper Bollinger Band, currently at $1.865, confirming the strong upward momentum.
However, this also means that the token has reached an overbought zone. This is reinforced by the Commodity Channel Index spiking to 222.2, well above the 100 threshold that indicates overbought conditions.
Although these technical signals suggest the potential for a market correction, the token’s successful retest of the upper Bollinger Band earlier today reinforces the idea that bulls remain in control.
This could point to continued upward momentum in the short term, although traders should still exercise caution due to the overbought indicators.
Price predictions
Trader sentiment on X aligned with the technical outlook as market observers pointed out that Popcat was in price discovery, meaning the token could print new highs soon.
According to analyst Altcoin Sherpa, Popcat has broken out of a key trading range, adding that as long as the price of Bitcoin remains stable, the upward trend could continue, potentially targeting the $2 mark. See below.
Another observer, Murad, offered an even more bullish outlook, predicting the meme coin could reach a price target of $5, a 300% surge from its current level of $1.24.
Meanwhile, another pseudonymous analyst, ‘TraderSz,’ noted that POPCAT breached a key resistance level of around $1.20 and is now heading towards the next major resistance at $1.50.
At the time of writing, Popcat was trading at $1.24. While it remains to be seen if the meme coin can hold this level, community sentiment appears optimistic, with data from CoinMarketCap showing that 69% of traders, out of 4,473 votes, are bullish on its future prospects.
As previously reported by crypto.news, crypto analysis firm Cryptonary predicted that Popcat could reach a price target of $40 during the current bull run, driven by strong community support, the so-called “meme coin supercycle,” and its growing prominence in the Solana ecosystem.
The creator of the Popcat meme coin hasn’t been explicitly named. The token’s popularity stems from a meme of a cat named Oatmeal chirping at a bug. The video, featuring alternating images of Oatmeal with its mouth open and closed, quickly turned into a GIF.
It eventually went viral. Students from the University of Sheffield in England created a Popcat-inspired game that revolves around clicking an image of Oatmeal to generate points.
