Daily Degen
June 2, 2025

SNEK, SYRUP, and the Return of Altcoin Season?

Are we seeing the beginnings of an actual altcoin season—or just another meme-fueled hiccup in market direction? Monday's trading session brought volatility and velocity as unexpected names like SNEK and SYRUP topped the charts, while institutional darlings MKR and XMR showed there’s more to this move than meets the meme.

Altcoins are surging with SYRUP and SNEK seeing double-digit returns alongside veteran performers MKR and XMR. Broader trends suggest increased risk-on sentiment and liquidity rotation—perhaps signaling a new cycle for altcoin dominance.

Movers and Shakers

Today's Top Gainers:
Top 7-Day Gainers:
SYRUP (12.71%), SNEK (9.048%), MKR (7.760%), XMR (7.253%), GLM (6.173%)
Today's Top Losers:
Top 7-Day Losers:
RAY (-6.30%), KAITO (-6.00%), VIRTUAL (-5.81%), XCN (-5.20%), TOSHI (-4.82%)

Altcoins Are Punching Up

If you've been grinding the charts lately, these past 24 hours have been anything but sleepy. In a surprising twist of flavor and fury, tokens like SYRUP and SNEK topped the gainers list—climbing 12.71% and 9.048% respectively—as if trying to outdo each other in terms of absurdity and profitability. Meanwhile, MKR, the OG DeFi stalwart, flexed its veteran muscles with a healthy 7.76% pump, reminding the market that it’s not just about gimmicks and gutsy memes.

The juxtaposition of niche meme-inspired tokens with protocol heavyweights like MKR and privacy-native XMR (up 7.253%) reveals something we haven’t seen in months: a broadening market appetite. We’re not just looking at rotational pumps anymore. What’s brewing might actually be the early signs of altcoin season—yes, the real one—when risk-on sentiment drives liquidity deeper into the crypto fringes.

Top Movers: The Story Behind the Spikes

SNEK: Up 9.048%, it slithered into the top gainers thanks to renewed Cardano community chatter and on-chain transaction spikes, showing signs of genuine ecosystem activity. Its meme roots give it virality, but what’s interesting is the increasing wallet count—up 15% this week alone.

SYRUP: Not just breakfast bait—this DeFi token on BNB Chain has gained traction recently with rumors of gamified staking (think: NFTs mixed with pancakes). The 12.71% pump isn’t just speculative—it’s backed by actual usage, as PancakeSwap volumes jumped 9.5% for the week.

MKR: MakerDAO hasn’t gone anywhere, and investors are waking up to its resilience. The token's 7.76% uptick appears connected to Maker’s ongoing RWA (real-world asset) strategy expansion and increased on-chain governance activity around collateralized assets.

XMR: Privacy coins are making a low-key comeback—pun intended. Monero's 7.253% boost might be correlated with increasing user migration from centralized platforms back to self-custodied wallets amid KYC tightening concerns in major exchanges.

GLM: The decentralized computation network saw a 6.173% bump, possibly due to new traction among AI dApp developers. Sources hint at a potential partnership with a Web3-native cloud infrastructure player.

A Quick Reality Check: Who Got Dunked?

Raydium (RAY): Down 6.3%, Raydium is under pressure as Solana DEX competition sharpens. With Jupiter and Drift stealing volumes, RAY’s liquidity depth is taking a hit.

KAITO: This AI + Crypto play dropped 6.0%, despite Twitter mentions ticking up. Buzz doesn't always translate into buys, especially when product-market fit remains ambiguous.

VIRTUAL and TOSHI: Major outflows and gas wars on Ethereum sidechains dried up short-term interest, sending both names down over 5%. They're still speculative plays with long-term optionality, but near-term sentiment is ice cold.

XCN: Down 5.20%, Chain’s utility narrative keeps fading. Without a clearer use case or roadmap, buyer fatigue is setting in—quick.

Industry Chatter: What’s the Vibe on Twitter?

The crypto Twitter feed has been especially entertaining today. A viral thread mocking TradFi investment strategies went full-circle as crypto degens used it to justify buying more SYRUP. Meanwhile, MakerDAO’s governance squad dropped breadcrumbs about onboarding a new tranche of real-world assets from LatAm—a move that could deeply diversify collateral types and reduce systemic risks for DAI. Also in the mill: rumors of a new privacy DEX catering to Monero and Zcash users, which would position XMR for extended attention if feature rollouts follow.

Is Altcoin Season Finally Here?

The dispersion between top gainers and losers is widening—a typical precursor to an alt season shift. Traditionally, sharp gains in meme-ish tokens (like SNEK, SYRUP) paralleled with rises in legacy alts (like MKR, XMR) hint at broader inflows rather than isolated pumps. In short: capital is rotating—but not just within Layer 1 ecosystems. It’s trickling down.
We would be remiss not to mention the uptick in 24hr altcoin volumes (+7.5% across Tier 2 exchanges) and a noticeable drop in BTC dominance, now at 48.2%—a strong sign that risk appetite is growing.

Liquidity Trends You Should Watch

We’re seeing liquidity spill out of large caps into fast-moving mid-caps. Order book depth on Binance and Bybit for these altcoins has thinned slightly, suggesting that sharp directional moves could continue due to slippage-driven breakouts. Keep an eye on metrics like exchange inflows for MKR and SNEK—they're rising rapidly, which typically precedes short-term volatility spikes (and opportunity for the nimble).

Looking Ahead: Strategic Rotation Is Key

Don’t chase pumps. Instead, track volume flow and bid/ask spreads. The market is rewarding tokens with ecosystem adoption (GLM), cross-chain bridging potential (XMR), and social meme velocity (SNEK). Under-the-radar plays like GLM could offer asymmetric returns if the AI narrative catches another tailwind. Meanwhile, watch for profit-taking rotations out of top performers into next-tier candidates like FET, ARB, or even obscure Cosmos ecosystem tokens.

Endnote: Embrace the Chaos, But Stay Tactical

Whether you’re flipping frogs or fortifying your DeFi blue-chip bags, these recent moves show something more exciting: it’s not just hype anymore. There’s nuance in this noise, and as market structure complexity returns, so do the opportunities for traders who can decode them. As we head into June with a market that’s anything but boring, keep your bots sharp, your narratives tighter, and your gas fees optimized.

Altcoins Are Punching Up

If you've been grinding the charts lately, these past 24 hours have been anything but sleepy. In a surprising twist of flavor and fury, tokens like SYRUP and SNEK topped the gainers list—climbing 12.71% and 9.048% respectively—as if trying to outdo each other in terms of absurdity and profitability. Meanwhile, MKR, the OG DeFi stalwart, flexed its veteran muscles with a healthy 7.76% pump, reminding the market that it’s not just about gimmicks and gutsy memes.

The juxtaposition of niche meme-inspired tokens with protocol heavyweights like MKR and privacy-native XMR (up 7.253%) reveals something we haven’t seen in months: a broadening market appetite. We’re not just looking at rotational pumps anymore. What’s brewing might actually be the early signs of altcoin season—yes, the real one—when risk-on sentiment drives liquidity deeper into the crypto fringes.

Top Movers: The Story Behind the Spikes

SNEK: Up 9.048%, it slithered into the top gainers thanks to renewed Cardano community chatter and on-chain transaction spikes, showing signs of genuine ecosystem activity. Its meme roots give it virality, but what’s interesting is the increasing wallet count—up 15% this week alone.

SYRUP: Not just breakfast bait—this DeFi token on BNB Chain has gained traction recently with rumors of gamified staking (think: NFTs mixed with pancakes). The 12.71% pump isn’t just speculative—it’s backed by actual usage, as PancakeSwap volumes jumped 9.5% for the week.

MKR: MakerDAO hasn’t gone anywhere, and investors are waking up to its resilience. The token's 7.76% uptick appears connected to Maker’s ongoing RWA (real-world asset) strategy expansion and increased on-chain governance activity around collateralized assets.

XMR: Privacy coins are making a low-key comeback—pun intended. Monero's 7.253% boost might be correlated with increasing user migration from centralized platforms back to self-custodied wallets amid KYC tightening concerns in major exchanges.

GLM: The decentralized computation network saw a 6.173% bump, possibly due to new traction among AI dApp developers. Sources hint at a potential partnership with a Web3-native cloud infrastructure player.

A Quick Reality Check: Who Got Dunked?

Raydium (RAY): Down 6.3%, Raydium is under pressure as Solana DEX competition sharpens. With Jupiter and Drift stealing volumes, RAY’s liquidity depth is taking a hit.

KAITO: This AI + Crypto play dropped 6.0%, despite Twitter mentions ticking up. Buzz doesn't always translate into buys, especially when product-market fit remains ambiguous.

VIRTUAL and TOSHI: Major outflows and gas wars on Ethereum sidechains dried up short-term interest, sending both names down over 5%. They're still speculative plays with long-term optionality, but near-term sentiment is ice cold.

XCN: Down 5.20%, Chain’s utility narrative keeps fading. Without a clearer use case or roadmap, buyer fatigue is setting in—quick.

Industry Chatter: What’s the Vibe on Twitter?

The crypto Twitter feed has been especially entertaining today. A viral thread mocking TradFi investment strategies went full-circle as crypto degens used it to justify buying more SYRUP. Meanwhile, MakerDAO’s governance squad dropped breadcrumbs about onboarding a new tranche of real-world assets from LatAm—a move that could deeply diversify collateral types and reduce systemic risks for DAI. Also in the mill: rumors of a new privacy DEX catering to Monero and Zcash users, which would position XMR for extended attention if feature rollouts follow.

Is Altcoin Season Finally Here?

The dispersion between top gainers and losers is widening—a typical precursor to an alt season shift. Traditionally, sharp gains in meme-ish tokens (like SNEK, SYRUP) paralleled with rises in legacy alts (like MKR, XMR) hint at broader inflows rather than isolated pumps. In short: capital is rotating—but not just within Layer 1 ecosystems. It’s trickling down.
We would be remiss not to mention the uptick in 24hr altcoin volumes (+7.5% across Tier 2 exchanges) and a noticeable drop in BTC dominance, now at 48.2%—a strong sign that risk appetite is growing.

Liquidity Trends You Should Watch

We’re seeing liquidity spill out of large caps into fast-moving mid-caps. Order book depth on Binance and Bybit for these altcoins has thinned slightly, suggesting that sharp directional moves could continue due to slippage-driven breakouts. Keep an eye on metrics like exchange inflows for MKR and SNEK—they're rising rapidly, which typically precedes short-term volatility spikes (and opportunity for the nimble).

Looking Ahead: Strategic Rotation Is Key

Don’t chase pumps. Instead, track volume flow and bid/ask spreads. The market is rewarding tokens with ecosystem adoption (GLM), cross-chain bridging potential (XMR), and social meme velocity (SNEK). Under-the-radar plays like GLM could offer asymmetric returns if the AI narrative catches another tailwind. Meanwhile, watch for profit-taking rotations out of top performers into next-tier candidates like FET, ARB, or even obscure Cosmos ecosystem tokens.

Endnote: Embrace the Chaos, But Stay Tactical

Whether you’re flipping frogs or fortifying your DeFi blue-chip bags, these recent moves show something more exciting: it’s not just hype anymore. There’s nuance in this noise, and as market structure complexity returns, so do the opportunities for traders who can decode them. As we head into June with a market that’s anything but boring, keep your bots sharp, your narratives tighter, and your gas fees optimized.

Newsworthy

MakerDAO hints at onboarding real-world assets from Latin American markets, while whispers about a privacy-focused decentralized exchange for Monero gain steam among developers.

Pro-Tip:

Track exchange inflows and wallet growth on rising tokens like SNEK and GLM to find early signs of traction before broader market uptake.

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Disclaimer: The content of this article is for general market education and commentary and is not intended to serve as financial, investment, or any other type of advice.

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