VIRTUAL crypto surpasses $1B market cap as whales buy 5M tokens

• Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) gained by 42% in 24 hours after listing on the Bithumb exchange.
• Open interest also increased by 90% despite a rise in short liquidations.

Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) hit a fresh all-time high of $1.42 on 29th November. At press time, the artificial intelligence (AI) crypto had retraced slightly to trade at $1.29, with 24-hour gains of 42%. Its market capitalization has also surged to $1.28 billion. 

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that in 24 hours, VIRTUAL’s trading volumes increased by more than 100% to $166 million. These volumes were likely driven by the altcoin’s listing on the Bithumb exchange, where it will be open for trading with Korean Won trading pairs. 

Whale interest in VIRTUAL has also risen in the past four days. Per Lookonchain, four whale addresses purchased 5.87 million tokens in the last three days.

Source: X

As VIRTUAL outperforms the broader cryptocurrency market amid rising whale activity and trading volumes, will the altcoin sustain the bullish momentum, or will the trend reverse? 

Technical indicators show strong bullish signs 

VIRTUAL crypto’s four-hour chart shows that bullish trends are gaining strength with the positive Directional Indicator (DI) trending above the negative DI. 

The wide gap between the positive DI and negative DI alongside the rising Average Directional Index (ADX) further shows that the uptrend is strong. 

Source: Tradingview

The Money Flow Index (MFI) at 85 further shows that buying pressure is intense, and VIRTUAL may have reached overbought levels. Traders should watch out for a decline in the MFI as it will indicate that sellers are entering the market to take profits. 

If the buying activity continues, VIRTUAL could likely flip its previous ATH and hit new highs. Conversely, if the uptrend weakens, a crucial support zone lies at $1.04, with a drop below set to accelerate the downtrend. 

VIRTUAL crypto’s open interest soars by 90% 

The derivatives market is also fuelling gains for VIRTUAL. At press time, VIRTUAL’s open interest (OI) had surged by 90% to $30M. Additionally, derivative trading volumes were up by 171% to $167M.

Source: Coinglass

The rising OI amid the price gains is a bullish sign suggesting derivative traders are opening new positions on VIRTUAL. However, it could also result in a spike in volatility. 

Liquidations around VIRTUAL have also increased in the last 24 hours to $634,000 at press time. Leveraged short positions saw $492,000 liquidations, which could have driven further gains for VIRTUAL crypto due to forced buying. 

AI cryptos lead market gains 

The AI crypto sector, at press time, had outperformed the rest of the broader market after the total market capitalization for AI Agents cryptos surged by 18% in 24 hours to $7 billion per CoinMarketCap.

VIRTUAL now ranks as the second-largest AI Agent after Artificial SuperIntelligence Alliance (FET). Its rising dominance in this sector could bode well for the token’s future gains.