More Gains Ahead or Ticking Time Bomb?

The token has flipped SHIB, HBAR, and CRO and is now the 29th-largest cryptocurrency.

The broader cryptocurrency market has rebounded over the past week, with multiple leading digital assets posting substantial gains. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, has risen by 9%, while Ethereum (ETH) has rallied by 12%.

However, those increases look modest compared to what’s happening with RaveDAO (RAVE). The little-known altcoin has shocked the crypto community after erupting more than 6,000% over the past seven days, but many analysts warn that the rally may be driven by heavy manipulation.

What a Pump, but for How Long?

It is a rare sight (especially in a bear market) to observe a price performance similar to RAVE’s. As of this writing, the coin trades at almost $16, representing a whopping 6,300% increase from last Tuesday. X user Max Crypto put things into perspective, saying that anyone who invested $24,000 a week ago would be a millionaire today.

Its market capitalization has neared $4 billion, positioning it as the 29th-largest cryptocurrency, surpassing well-established altcoins such as Hedera (HBAR), Sui (SUI), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Cronos (CRO), and many more.

The massive green candle has caught the attention of multiple crypto commentators, some of whom tried to explain what triggered the sudden surge.

X user Jeremy noted that roughly 10 hours before the price exploded, wallets linked to the RaveDAO deployer quietly moved 18.58 million tokens to Bitget. At the same time, open interest spiked past $200 milion, while daily volume hit $270 million. The analyst argued that this resulted in $17 million in shorts liquidated in a single day.

“That is not retail finding a gem. That is a short squeeze triggered by a low float token in which the team controls 90% of the supply, and the exit was already staged on an exchange. The 752 million tokens still not in circulation are worth roughly $7.5 billion at current prices. The retail buyers at $8 and $9 thought they were early. They weren’t. The early ones moved 18 million tokens to Bitget while nobody was watching,” he added.

Data shows that something shady might indeed be going on. According to CoinMarketCap, 99.32% of RAVE’s supply is controlled by the top 10 holders. This is a classic setup for rug pulls and pump-and-dump schemes, since a handful of people can swing the price in their favor with coordinated moves. In other words, the market seems to be at the mercy of a few holders, making it extremely risky.

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Short Now or Wait?

X user Julius Elum also touched on RAVE’s recent performance, outlining four signs to watch for before shorting the market. The first one is “a huge candle manipulation,” which has already been achieved.

The second will be top developers and whale holders moving their supply to centralized exchanges, which is “yet to happen.” The third signal is a drastic drop in volume, whereas the last one is a plunge in negative funding to positive.

“If it doesn’t happen, do not short,” he advised.

Meanwhile, RAVE’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicates that the valuation may be headed for a violent pullback at any time. The ratio has climbed to almost 100, meaning that the token is heavily overbought and on the verge of a potential decline. The index ranges from 0 to 100, with anything below 30 considered a buying opportunity.