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RAVE token surged 50x in a week, entering top 30 largest cryptocurrencies
Analysts have called RaveDAO’s surge a classic “deceptive tactic.” The crypto asset entered the top 30 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization without any news or visible catalysts.
In less than a week, the price of RaveDAO ($RAVE) increased by approximately 5,000%, allowing the project to rank 30th among the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. The token’s market capitalization exceeds $3 billion. The sharp rally was accompanied by abnormal trading volumes in the perpetual futures market. On April 13, Binance and OKX recorded volumes exceeding $13 billion, far above most cryptocurrencies.
Starting from April 7, $RAVE rose from around $0.24 to $0.3 by April 9, gaining nearly 30%. The rally then sharply accelerated, reaching $2.16 by April 11, up more than 600%. Later, the token briefly surged above $14 on April 13, adding another 500%. Throughout this period, there were no news or visible catalysts. As of 12:00 MSK, the token trades around $13.
RaveDAO positions itself as a Web3-based music platform aiming to merge EDM culture with blockchain capabilities, including on-chain ticketing and crypto payments at events. Its “partners” section lists around 100 well-known crypto companies and organizations, ranging from major exchanges to media outlets such as Forbes and CoinDesk. The project also claims involvement in several events in 2025, mainly in Asia.
However, RaveDAO is not widely known in the crypto community. One of the most notable events besides the price surge was a retweet by the son of U.S. President Donald Trump in December 2025, referencing the listing of $RAVE paired with the $USD1 stablecoin on Aster DEX.
$USD1 is a stablecoin launched by World Liberty Financial, a project backed by the Trump family. Aster DEX is a crypto exchange promoted by Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Binance was the first exchange to support $USD1, and its team was reportedly involved in writing the stablecoin’s source code. In spring 2025, $USD1 was also used in a $2 billion deal when UAE-based MGX Fund acquired a stake in Binance.
According to WuBlockchain, citing Evening Trader Group analysts, the event resembles a classic “pump and dump” scheme with elements of “deceptive tactics.” Experts suggest the real goal was not just price pumping, but profiting from liquidations of large short positions.
Evening Trader Group outlined a clear sequence: days before the surge, an unknown entity deposited about 30.58 million $RAVE (~$42 million) to Bitget, creating the illusion of an upcoming sell-off and triggering short positions. Over the next two days, these tokens were withdrawn back to wallets, coinciding with a sharp price increase and massive short liquidations.
Analysts’ mistake
Due to blockchain transparency, all transactions and wallet balances are visible to everyone. Traders often assume that inflows to exchanges signal imminent selling, but this is not always correct.
For example, in January, CryptoQuant claimed that 4,709 BTC moved from GameStop to Coinbase likely indicated a sale, estimating a potential $76 million loss. Later, it turned out GameStop used the funds for options trading, invalidating the assumption.
“Real profit was generated not just through price pumping, but through trapping and liquidating short positions,” Evening Trader Group stated.
According to analysts, $RAVE liquidations exceeded $42 million in a single day, with over $30 million coming from shorts. For comparison, Solana recorded around $11 million in the same period. Such figures are extremely rare for low-cap tokens.
In an April 11 post, Evening Trader Group also linked transactions to wallet addresses potentially controlled by the $RAVE team, claiming these wallets hold around 80% of the token supply.
While ownership is difficult to prove, blockchain data confirms high concentration: more than 80% of tokens are held in four wallets.
See also: "Bitcoin hits monthly high above $74K"
