Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU) Surges 127.4% Amid Meme Coin Mania and ETF Filings

Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU) has experienced a remarkable surge, with its value increasing by 127.4% over the course of a week. This significant rise is attributed to the resurgence of meme coin mania, strategic social media stunts featuring its avatars, and the filing of ETFs that propose allocating 95% of their holdings to the PENG token.

The $PENGU token has evolved from a niche NFT experiment to a multifaceted Web3 brand, driven by speculative ETF filings, high-profile endorsements, and major retail partnerships. Since its launch on Solana in late 2024, $PENGU's price has doubled amid various marketing stunts and ETF rumors, leading some to speculate that it could become the biggest meme coin of the summer.

The fundamentals of $PENGU are supported by a tight 63 billion-token float against a capped 88.88 billion supply. Nearly 26% of the tokens are locked for community rewards, and an airdrop that seeded hundreds of thousands of wallets in December remains largely unspent. This sense of scarcity has become a marketing asset, as evidenced by the 60% weekly sprint in price following social media stunts by Coinbase and Binance US, which briefly swapped their avatars for Pudgy Penguins artwork.

This stunt ignited institutional backing once Cboe filed a Form 19b-4 to list the Canary PENG ETF and the SEC logged its companion S-1. Both filings propose allocating 95% of the fund’s holdings to PENG tokens, with the remaining 5% earmarked for Pudgy Penguin NFTs. This unprecedented structure is designed to blend liquid token exposure with the rarity and collectibility of the underlying art.

Within 24 hours of Coinbase’s stunt, the NFT floor price leapt from about 9 ETH to 11.6 ETH, demonstrating how the token and collection move in tandem. Liquidity followed, and the token’s revival from an April price struggle of around $0.028 to $0.0037 in July returned $PENGU to the mid-cap league in barely three months. Just five days ago, $PENGU jumped 33% alone.

Smart money seems convinced by the return, with on-chain trackers flagging whales buying $PENGU in large volumes and even billionaires like Justin Sun endorsing the project. The PENGU/USDT 4-hour chart from July 11 to 15 shows a strong uptrend. The price moved sideways between $0.012 and $0.018 for a while, but buyers took control on July 13 and pushed it higher. On July 14, the price broke above the key $0.0300 level, confirming growing momentum. That level has now turned into solid support, holding steady through several retests. As long as this support holds, buyers remain in charge.

The rally continued into July 15, carrying $PENGU to fresh highs and is currently trading around $0.03455. Trading activity rose during the breakout, reflecting strong participation, a positive indicator for sustainability. Breakouts accompanied by rising volume typically indicate genuine demand, reducing the likelihood of a false move. The price structure has consistently formed higher highs and higher lows, a hallmark of a strong uptrend. This pattern demonstrates sustained buyer dominance across multiple sessions, reinforcing bullish conviction.

The volume footprint chart provides extra insight. A major event occurred during the 08:00 UTC 4-hour candle on July 15. The data shows a large negative delta of –126.25 million, indicating that aggressive market sells outnumbered market buys in that candle. However, despite this heavy selling pressure, the price did not drop. Instead, the candle remained green and continued pushing higher. This indicates that strong buy orders were absorbing the selling pressure, allowing $PENGU to climb steadily. Such absorption shows buyers are still in control, and the trend remains supported beneath the surface.

The price now approaches a key resistance zone between $0.0350 and $0.0360, an area reinforced by recent bullish momentum. This level aligns with historical seller interest, increasing the likelihood of supply pressure. A decisive breakout above this zone, supported by strong volume, could indicate a continuation toward higher targets. Conversely, rejection here may trigger a retracement toward the $0.0310 support level, a logical consolidation point before any renewed upside attempt.