FTM soars 21% amid Sonic mainnet launch hype

Fantom’s FTM emerged as the leading gainer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap amid community hype regarding the launch of its Sonic mainnet and a significant rise in whale investment.

FTM rose by over 21% to an eight-month high of $1.13 during the early Asian trading hours on Nov. 27. This led to a subsequent jump in its market cap, which stood at over $3 billion at the time of writing, making it the 53rd largest crypto asset by market ca per data from CoinGecko.

The altcoin has been rising for five consecutive days, locking over 56.47% gains in the past week. Despite this, FTM is still down 68.84% from its all-time high of $3.46 in October 2021.

Why is Fantom rising?

Fantom’s recent rally was fueled by the excitement surrounding the upcoming launch of its Sonic mainnet. Ecosystem developments and increased demand from investors also contributed to the surge.

With the Sonic upgrade, Fantom developers aim to boost its position in the DeFi industry. Data from DeFi Llama shows that the total value locked in the ecosystem has dropped to $312.39 million from a record high of over $15 billion.

Adding to the momentum, Sonic Labs recently announced a collaboration with web3 financial data platform OctavFi to bring advanced on-chain treasury management and financial reporting to Sonic protocols.

Meanwhile, there has been an uptick in buying activity among whales over the past day. According to data from IntoTheBlock, whale holder netflow has surged by over 1235%, increasing from an inflow of $712,000 on Nov. 20 to over $9.51 million on Nov. 22.

FTM faces resistance at $1.13

With growing interest from the crypto community, analysts on X expect the rally to continue if the altcoin manages to breach a key resistance level.

Pseudonymous analyst CryptoBullet noted that if FTM surpasses the key resistance level of $1.13, it could potentially climb to $1.62, with further targets at $2.20 and $2.77, assuming that the community remains bullish.

Similarly, crypto commentator Altcoin Sherpa, with over 232k followers, also identified $1.13 as a critical resistance, noting that FTM’s rally follows over two years of accumulation, setting the stage for significant upside if this level is breached.

FTM price, RSI and MACD chart — Nov. 27 | Source: crypto.news

On the 1-day FTM/USDT chart, the Relative Strength Index at 70 suggests the price could pull back in the short term. However, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence shows the MACD line well above the signal line, indicating that the bullish trend remains strong and could sustain the rally despite overbought conditions.

Given the extended nature of the recent rally, FTM could retrace to the $1.00-$1.02 support zone before attempting further upside. If the bullish momentum continues, the next key resistance lies around $1.13-$1.20.