Crypto Rollercoaster: PENGU Soars, XTZ Stumbles – July 2025’s Wildest Market Moves

Crypto markets never sleep—this week’s action proves it. From meme coin madness to DeFi dark horses, here’s who’s laughing (and who’s bleeding).

PENGU: The meme coin that defied gravity. Up 300%? Must be Tuesday.

ENA: DeFi’s quiet disruptor finally gets its spotlight—institutional money’s new toy.

PUMP: Rug-pull fears vanish as liquidity mining rewards hit stupid-high APYs. Traders FOMO’d in—naturally.

XTZ: The ‘Ethereum killer’ that forgot to wake up. Down 15% while rivals feast. Oops.

Bonus cynicism: Another week, another ‘revolutionary’ token doing exactly what Bitcoin did in 2013—just with more VC baggage.

Key takeaways

CONFLUX [CFX], Pudgy Penguins [PENGU], Ethena [ENA] led the week with sharp price surges. In contrast, Pump.fun [PUMP], Tezos [XTZ], and Sonic [S] saw significant declines.

This week in crypto, volatility tested investor conviction.

A Satoshi-era whale moved 80,000 Bitcoin [BTC]  yet the market shrugged it off, showing resilience and depth.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s ETH ETF hit a historic $10 billion in AUM, reaffirming institutional conviction in Ethereum. 

On the broader front, low- and mid-cap tokens continued to dominate both the top gainers and losers, highlighting fragmented risk appetite and sector rotation.

Weekly winners

Conflux [CFX] — Public L1 blockchain posted an end-week rebound

Conflux [CFX] was this week’s standout, rallying 30% off a $0.105 open, but its price action raised more questions than confidence.

It kicked off with a parabolic 122% breakout, smashing through a four-month range to tap a new all-time high at $0.246, with RSI DEEP in overbought territory. 

But the HYPE didn’t hold. CFX retraced nearly 80% by midweek, tagging $0.15, hinting at a blow-off top rather than clean accumulation. Structure’s still technically intact, but conviction is shaky.

Source: TradingView (CFX/USDT)

In this kind of chop, you need a solid bid stack to flip the script, something to anchor price and bait sidelined bulls. 

So far, CFX has bounced 20% off that $0.15 level, which could mean we’re either carving out a base or gearing up to poke $0.20 again.

Either way, bulls are circling, and Conflux is back on radar. If this bounce sticks, expect a shot at reclaiming key levels next.

Pudgy Penguins [PENGU] — Memecoin took on a bullish directional bias

Pudgy Penguins [PENGU] is creeping up on Conflux with a 28% MOVE off its $0.30 open. But unlike CFX’s wild spike, this run has been way more controlled, showing clear bull intent.

PENGU started the week knocking on the $0.03 resistance, right at the top of last week’s tight range. Could’ve broken either way, but bulls pressed the gas, ripping a 30% move.

Midweek dip? -12.28%, but no follow-through. Buyers stepped back in quick, and PENGU reclaimed the level fast, punching through $0.40 and closing strong.

Momentum’s clearly sticking. As it stands, PENGU looks set to test that $0.046 local top, and if bulls keep pressing, $0.05 is clearly on deck.

Ethena [ENA] — Stablecoin protocol delivered a bullish continuation

Ethena [ENA] came in hot as the third-biggest gainer this week. It clocked a 24.15% move, with price now pressing into the $0.60 supply zone.

It opened the week hovering just below $0.50 resistance, and after a quick -11% shakeout, bulls stepped up. The bounce was sharp, nearly 30% in three days, tagging a $0.63 wick, a level untouched since Q1.

Yes, there’s been a minor -1.37% intraday pullback, which could hint at some local cooling. 

But overall, the bid stack is holding, and structure remains bullish. If $0.60 flips clean, August could open with fresh legs toward bullish continuation.

Other notable winners

Outside the majors, altcoin rockets stole the spotlight this week.

Memecoin [MEMECOIN] skyrocketed 4,445%, leading an explosive rally.

Zora [ZORA] followed with a 382% gain, while Uranus [URANUS] surged 330%, rounding out the leaderboard in a week dominated by speculative momentum.

Weekly losers

Pump.fun [PUMP] — Memecoin utility launchpad broke to lower lows

Pump.fun [PUMP] ended the week deep in the red, down 34.62% off its $0.0042 open, making it the top laggard. 

And this wasn’t random. As AMBCrypto flagged, it’s tied to heavy ICO-era distribution. Post-launch, Pump.fun committed millions toward buybacks to prop up price.

In fact, since launch, the team’s deployed $19.6 million in buybacks. And yet, Cirrus noted that those tokens are now worth just $7.6 million, a clear sign the bid-side demand isn’t catching up to sell pressure.

Source: TradingView (PUMP/USDT)

Sure, we saw a +8% market cap pop and a 15% volume uptick, which could point to some early dip scooping, likely devs trying to bait FOMO while supply’s still cheap.

But unless PUMP can hold its 7% bounce off that $0.0023 weekly low, it’s still a bit premature to call a clean reversal. 

That said, if it can lock in two green weeklies, that’s a decent shift in structure, and something worth watching as we head into next week.

Tezos [XTZ] — Governance protocol took a bearish reversal

Tezos [XTZ] landed in the second loser slot, shedding 17.23% on the week, marking a sharp pullback right after last week’s monster +66.57% candle. 

Classic distribution behavior here: Rally exhausts, sellers take over, and price cools off. The big question is, is this just a cooldown, or are we staring at a full-on breakdown? 

So far, the daily chart leant reset, not collapse. XTZ dipped to $0.80 early-week, but buyers stepped in, pushing it back to $0.90 at press time. 

That rebound shows there’s still demand on the bid, and if bulls keep defending this zone, a breakout attempt toward $1 might not be far off.

Sonic [S] — DeFi facilitator failed to break resistance

Sonic [S] came in as the third weekly laggard, sliding 15% from its $0.40 open, marking a classic overextended pullback after two solid green weeks.

It had just clocked a 23% run-up into resistance, but this time the $0.40 level acted as a hard ceiling. 

In fact, bears stepped in early, dragging S down 16% in the first half of the week. It was a clear signal of profit-taking and cooling momentum.

Since then, price has been hovering around the $0.32 zone, suggesting supply’s drying up and a potential local floor forming. If this range holds, a move back toward $0.40 isn’t off the table.

Other notable losers

In the broader market, downside volatility hit hard.

Nobody Sausage [NOBODY] led the losers with a 38% drop, followed by MindWaveDAO [NILA], down 36.7%, and FUNToken [FUN], which slipped 36.6% as momentum sharply cooled.

Conclusion

This week was a rollercoaster. Big pumps, sharp dips, and nonstop action. As always, stay sharp, do your own research, and trade smart.