Gate Research Institute: BTC is fluctuating at a high level, AURA has experienced a big pump of over 180 times, and small to medium market capitalization coins are stirring up a frenzy.

Overview

Gate Research analyzes and sorts out the market dynamics and popular airdrop projects from June 3 to June 16, 2025. During this period, the crypto market continued to fluctuate at a high level, and there has not yet been a systematic recovery, but driven by local themes, small and medium-capitalization tokens performed well. The top 500 tokens by market capitalization rose by an average of 16.65%, with the market cap ranking in the 301–400 range rising by more than 46%, indicating that the preference for assets with topical and narrative potential is still evident. AURA soared by more than 180 times, and the trading volume of projects such as CONSCIOUS was amplified by more than 100 times, and the resonance effect of volume and price was prominent; Some of the tokens that have seen large volumes but stagnate reflect the market's divergent expectations for their subsequent performance. The overall market presents a structure of "theme rotation + mainstream stability", and volume changes are still an important signal to capture short-term opportunities.

In this context, multiple potential projects are simultaneously launching airdrop activities, including OpenSea (the world's leading NFT trading platform), Treehouse (a DeFi rewards platform), Recall (a decentralized data protocol), and Sophon (an on-chain identity platform). Currently, they have all opened participation entry points. This article will briefly introduce the characteristics and participation methods of these projects, assisting users in seizing the airdrop benefits and medium to long-term layout opportunities during the market rebound period.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

According to CoinGecko data, from June 3 to June 16, 2025, the cryptocurrency market overall maintained a range-bound fluctuation, with a tendency towards high-level consolidation, and no significant signs of recovery have emerged yet. During this period, BTC briefly reached 110,000 USDT, with an increase of nearly 4%, and has currently fallen back to around 106,000 USDT, indicating that the market is still in a tug-of-war between bulls and bears. [1]

On a macro level, the FOMC meeting minutes released by the Federal Reserve at the end of May maintained a hawkish tone, with officials remaining vigilant about the inflation outlook. The core PCE remained stable at 2.6% and is expected to return to the target range only by 2027. Meanwhile, the downward revision of GDP growth and the upward adjustment of the unemployment rate have intensified market concerns about economic slowdown and delayed interest rate cuts, further suppressing the upward momentum of risk assets.

In terms of geopolitics, Iran and Israel have erupted in military conflict, driving up global risk aversion sentiment, benefiting traditional safe-haven assets such as gold. However, this event is not enough to constitute a decisive driving force for a new round of rising markets, and attention should still be paid to macroeconomic data and the market's support strength.

In terms of regulation, the policy has released positive signals. The "GENIUS Stablecoin Act" successfully passed a procedural vote in the Senate on June 12, indicating a structural shift in the regulatory attitude in the United States, with the regulatory pathway gradually becoming clearer, which is expected to alleviate policy uncertainty in the future. The next day, the SEC also announced the formal withdrawal of multiple regulatory proposals concerning DeFi and crypto custody, which the market generally views as positive support for the DeFi ecosystem.

Overall, the current cryptocurrency market is in a range characterized by fluctuations and a tug-of-war over policies. Although the fundamental support is still insufficient, the easing of regulations and the capacity for capital absorption are gradually improving, potentially building momentum for the second half of the year. In the short term, it is still necessary to closely monitor changes in trading volume and the reaction of macro indicators.

1. Overview of this round of price fluctuation data

This article groups and counts the top 500 tokens by market capitalization, observing the average increase in different market cap ranges from June 3 to June 16.

The overall average increase is 16.65%, with tokens ranked 301–400 showing the most outstanding performance, averaging a rise of 46.85%, far exceeding other ranges, indicating that some low-market-cap tokens have gained significant market attention and concentrated capital inflow. Tokens ranked 101–200 and 401–500 also performed well, with average increases of 9.99% and 9.91%, respectively, showing relative stability. The mainstream assets in the top hundred by market capitalization have risen by 8.26%, maintaining a moderate upward trend, indicating a continuation of institutional allocation sentiment.

In comparison, tokens ranked 201–300 by market capitalization have shown stable performance, with an average increase of 8.23%, slightly lower than other ranges. Overall, the mid and small-cap sectors exhibit characteristics of partial outbreaks, but the rotation of funds has not fully spread out, and market enthusiasm remains concentrated in certain themes and sectors. The current rebound structure is selective and cannot yet be regarded as a comprehensive recovery of sentiment.

Note: The market capitalization distribution is based on CoinGecko data, grouping the top 500 tokens by market capitalization into sets of 100 (e.g., ranks 1–100, 101–200, etc.). It calculates the price fluctuations of the tokens within each group from June 3 to June 16, 2025, and computes the average for each group as the average growth indicator for that market capitalization range. The overall average growth rate (16.65%) is the unweighted average of the individual growth rates of the top 500 tokens.

Figure 1: The overall average increase is 16.65%, with the most notable increase seen in tokens ranked 301–400 by market capitalization, averaging an increase of 46.85%.

Price Change Leaderboard

In the past two weeks, although the crypto market has maintained a volatile pattern as a whole, the capital rotation is active, and some small-capitalization tokens have performed particularly well, and the market has shown obvious structural differentiation. The top gainer is AURA, whose price has skyrocketed by more than 18,800% in two weeks, far outpacing other currencies, indicating a concentrated inflow of extreme speculation funds. AURA is a meme coin deployed on the Solana chain, which will be launched on May 30, 2024, focusing on TikTok's popular "aura" concept, emphasizing the combination of social influence and personal temperament. At present, the project has evolved into a community-led, faith-based movement, and has a high degree of popularity on the X platform, becoming one of the hottest meme projects in the Solana ecosystem in recent times. 【2】

Others such as 0X0 (+119.76%), AB (+83.68%), PCI (+76.30%), etc. have also recorded significant gains, reflecting the market's strong preference for high volatility and high-profile assets. The top ten tokens with the largest increases are mostly concentrated in the fields of Meme, AI, and social minting, which have community popularity or speculative potential, attracting capital in the short term. Additionally, tokens like REKT, VENOM, and DAKU also show a high Beta trend, demonstrating strong performance under the capital game structure.

In contrast, the list of the biggest losers is focused on projects that have lost popularity or have outdated themes, with ZKJ down 83.95%. Others such as KOGE (-56.11%), MASK (-46.97%), and SOS (-45.22%) have also seen significant declines, indicating that assets lacking narrative support are under pressure as funds withdraw.

Overall, the current market has not yet shown systematic recovery, but there is a clear preference structure for funds. Tokens with strong themes and active communities still have short-term performance opportunities; meanwhile, projects lacking new narratives and liquidity are more likely to become targets for sell-offs, with significant differentiation in market trends.

Figure 2: The most prominent is the Meme coin AURA on the Solana chain, which has increased by over 18,800%.

Relationship between market capitalization ranking and price fluctuation

To further analyze the structural characteristics of token performance in this round of market trends, this article plots a scatter distribution chart of the top 500 tokens by market capitalization, with the horizontal axis representing the market capitalization ranking (a smaller value indicates a larger market capitalization) and the vertical axis showing the price change from June 3 to June 16 (displayed on a logarithmic scale). Each dot in the chart represents a token, with green indicating an increase and red indicating a decrease.

From an overall distribution perspective, about 90% of tokens have achieved positive returns, with the increase concentrated in the range of 10% to 80%, reflecting significant systemic rebound characteristics in this round of market trends. Among them, AURA's increase exceeded 18,000%, showing an extreme rise on the chart; PCI also ranks among the top increases, indicating that some small and medium market cap tokens are still the focus of market capital speculation.

The mid-market cap range (ranking approximately 100-400) is the most densely distributed, and generally records double-digit gains, reflecting a trend of capital "casting a wide net", favoring assets with community popularity or strong narrative backgrounds. In contrast, some assets such as LA and DLC, which have seen significant declines, often lack topic support or belong to old thematic projects that were overhyped in the early stages, recently facing profit-taking or liquidity exhaustion.

As shown above, this round of rebound is not led by high market cap mainstream coins, but rather exhibits a structural characteristic of "mainstream coins being stable while small and medium coins are active," with funds favoring targets that have topic speculation space, community foundation, or innovative mechanisms.

Figure 3: Most tokens recorded positive returns during this period, with the increase mainly concentrated in the range of 10% to 50%.

Top 100 Market Capitalization Rankings

Against the backdrop of this round of volatility, the top 100 tokens by market capitalization have maintained a relatively stable performance overall. After excluding tokens such as stablecoins and LSD (liquid staking derivatives), the top five gainers are SPX (+43.24%), UNI (+40.52%), FARTCOIN (+32.25%), SKY (+26.64%) and HYPE (+25.23%), indicating that the market capital preference is concentrated in mainstream projects with narrative heat, high trading activity or new concept support.

Among them, UNI's performance is particularly eye-catching, not only benefiting from the increase in governance revenue and enhanced liquidity, but also related to the launch of the smart wallet function by Uniswap Labs. The wallet significantly improves the user experience by introducing mechanisms such as one-click exchange, gas sponsorship, and arbitrary token payment, and builds on the Ethereum EIP-5792 standard to further enhance its technical advantages with the upcoming Pectra upgrade. This series of innovations has improved user stickiness, strengthened the market's confidence in the Uniswap ecosystem, and has also become an important support for the strong upward movement of UNI in this round. 【3】

Although FARTCOIN has Meme attributes, its core revolves around AI dialogue experiments and the "Truth Terminal" mechanism, combined with community dissemination and interactive gameplay, attracting significant funding attention in a short period and exhibiting obvious high volatility characteristics; on the other hand, HYPE, as the native token of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, also shows a high Beta structural market performance driven by the increase in platform trading activity and topic popularity.

On the other hand, although the overall market is in a state of high consolidation, some assets in the top hundred by market capitalization are performing relatively weakly. The top five in terms of decline are LEO (-2.42%), WBT (-0.51%), while others like TKX (+0.55%), NEXO (+0.81%), and FTN (+0.91%) have limited gains, reflecting that during capital rotation, these types of assets have certain defensive attributes. Even if they have not received significant attention, there has been no substantial pullback.

Overall, in this round of market, the tokens that have seen the largest gains mostly possess characteristics of liquidity, narrative, and mechanism innovation, with funds favoring "high-heat, high-reactivity" assets. Defensive tokens, on the other hand, perform steadily in a fluctuating market, presenting a funding game pattern of "structural diffusion + differentiated rotation."

Figure 4: The tokens with the highest price increase among the top 100 by market capitalization are mostly concentrated in actively traded or highly discussed sectors, indicating that capital allocation tends to favor mainstream assets that are topical and responsive.

2. Analysis of the performance in this round of increased volume

Volume Growth Analysis

Based on the analysis of token price performance, this article further observes the changes in trading volume of certain tokens during this market cycle. Using the trading volume before the market started as a benchmark, the growth multiples of the trading volume up to June 16 are calculated to measure the changes in market heat and trading activity.

Data shows that the Solana Meme token AURA leads with a transaction volume growth of over 1,600 times, coupled with an astonishing surge of more than 18,000%, highlighting that this project has become a focal point of market attention in this round of行情, with high speculation.

Following closely, CONSCIOUS has seen its price drop by about 4.6% in the past 14 days, but its trading volume has surged over a hundred times, indicating that short-term capital has heavily intervened, reflecting the market's temporary focus on its narrative theme. It is noteworthy that CONSCIOUS is not an ordinary financial asset; rather, it is a Web3 project that combines meditation practices with blockchain technology, dedicated to promoting the concept of "Mindfulness" globally. Its core goal is to build a decentralized ecosystem centered around mental health, breaking through the framework of traditional crypto projects, and gradually forming a unique recognition and value proposition in the market through its unique application scenarios and differentiated positioning.

The remaining projects such as ETHX (+56.17 times), PCI (+36.35 times), and USDY (+26.06 times) also recorded significant volume increase, reflecting a rapid rise in market trading willingness driven by high topic relevance or new narratives. From the perspective of market capitalization distribution, these types of projects are mostly located between the 100th and 400th ranks in market cap, characterized by moderate size, high volatility, and relatively active liquidity, making them easy targets for short-term speculative trading. Although a dramatic increase in trading volume does not necessarily lead to sustained price rises, it is often a precursor to market movements, especially for tokens with community momentum and narrative themes, which have greater trading reference value.

In summary, changes in trading volume are an important indicator for identifying market sentiment and structural rotation, especially among small and mid-cap tokens, where changes in volume often precede price reactions, making it one of the monitoring signals suitable for short-term trading.

Figure 5: Solana Meme Token AURA leads with over 1,600 times the trading volume growth, indicating extremely high market participation.

Volume Variation and Price Analysis

To further observe the relationship between trading volume changes and price trends, this article plots a scatter diagram of Volume Increase Multiple and Price Change %. The horizontal axis represents the increase in trading volume of each token over two weeks compared to the previous baseline date, while the vertical axis shows the price fluctuation during the same period, using a symmetric logarithmic scale to clearly present extreme changes.

From the chart, it can be observed that most tokens with significant price increases are accompanied by a notable increase in trading volume, indicating the market's rapid response to narrative themes, short-term trading opportunities, or community enthusiasm. For example, AURA, located in the extreme position of the upper right quadrant, saw its trading volume surge by over 1,600 times, with a price increase of up to 18,000%, making it a typical representative of this round of market's "volume-driven rise"; projects like PCI and RVN, which have medium to low market capitalization, also fall into this area, reflecting that in structural rotations, funds tend to concentrate on assets with strong enthusiasm support, forming a resonance of price and volume increase.

In contrast, some projects such as CONSCIOUS, ETHX, and USDY have also seen a significant increase in trading volume (all exceeding 25 times), but their prices have shown corrections or even negative returns, indicating that funds may have entered the market for a short time but lack sustained buying interest or support for price increases. This characteristic of "high volume without price increase" may reflect a phase of speculative trading or a decline in sentiment after news-driven events, especially when there is a lack of strong narratives, substantial progress, or community momentum.

In addition, the lower left quadrant gathers a large number of assets with low price increases and low trading volume changes, indicating that although this round of market has a structurally driven rise due to themes, it has not fully spread to all assets, and non-hot projects outside the mainstream coins are still in a wait-and-see or low liquidity state.

Overall, the price-volume linkage remains a key reference for identifying capital focus and market expectations in the current market situation. Projects in the upper right quadrant often exhibit characteristics of "hype narratives + price-volume resonance," making them more likely to attract chasing funds, while tokens in the lower right or central axis area need further observation to determine if they meet the launch conditions. Volume anomalies, especially in mid- to low-market-cap projects, are often early signals of thematic market trends and serve as important evidence for short-term strategies.

Figure 6: Tokens such as AURA, PCI, and RVN are located in the upper right quadrant, exhibiting typical characteristics of "volume increase".

Correlation Analysis

After discussing the direct relationship between the changes in trading volume of tokens and their price performance, this article further analyzes the structural relationship between the two from a statistical perspective. To assess whether market liquidity has a systematic impact, the "trading volume / market capitalization" is introduced as a relative liquidity indicator, and its correlation coefficient with price fluctuations is calculated. Through correlation analysis, we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of which tokens are more easily driven by liquidity in the current market conditions, and whether there is a consistent pattern between trading heat and price responses, thereby providing investors with a more structurally insightful reference.

From the chart, it can be observed that the correlation between the token's "trading volume / market capitalization" and price increase is generally high, particularly concentrated between 0.65 and 0.90, indicating that the activity level of funds has a significant impact on price fluctuations. The color of the scatter points represents the strength of correlation (red high, blue low), while the size of the bubbles is scaled according to the token's market capitalization, reflecting the differences in market capitalization.

The projects AXL, VENOM, ORBS, and AURA located in the upper left corner of the image not only have a correlation coefficient of over 0.85, but also have relatively small bubbles, indicating that during price increases, the trading volume of these small to medium market cap projects rises significantly, exhibiting the "volume-price linkage" characteristic, and are often regarded as concentrated targets when funds chase hot topics.

On the right side, mainstream assets like UNI, KAI, and ICX have a slightly lower correlation (about 0.65–0.70), but due to their larger market capitalization, the bubbles are significantly enlarged, indicating that their volatility is controlled and the price increases are more stable. Although the correlation between volume and price is slightly lower, they still have an advantage in capital allocation due to their strong liquidity and institutional attention.

Overall, this chart shows the structural market characteristics of "theme-driven + market value diffusion": small and medium-sized currencies are more volatile and linked under the impetus of funds, while mainstream assets provide stable support. Based on this, investors can distinguish short-term high-chasing opportunities and medium-term layout targets, and optimize trading decisions based on volume changes and price correlations.

Figure 7: The trading volume and price increase of small and medium market cap tokens such as AXL, VENOM, ORBS, and AURA are highly correlated, with concentrated capital enthusiasm.

In summary, although the current cryptocurrency market has not yet seen a systemic rebound, the structural rotation of funds and the strong performance of small and medium-cap assets have shown that market enthusiasm is still present. Changes in trading volume and theme-driven activities have become important bases for identifying trading opportunities. In addition to the active performance of the spot trading market, there are also several potential airdrop projects being promoted simultaneously this period, covering popular sectors such as NFTs, social, and AI. If users can grasp the rhythm, they are expected to layout in advance during the market fluctuation period to gain potential token returns. Below is a brief overview of the current airdrop tasks worth paying attention to and the ways to participate.

Airdrop Hot Projects

This article sorts out the popular projects with high airdrop potential from June 3 to June 16, 2025, most of which have been supported by well-known investment institutions and are expected to release token airdrops in the next year. A number of Web3 projects, including OpenSea (the world's leading NFT trading platform), Treehouse (DeFi rewards platform), Recall (decentralized data protocol), and Sophon (on-chain identity platform), have launched or confirmed airdrop plans, providing users with diversified participation and monetization paths. The following will detail the basic information, airdrop dynamics and participation methods of each project to help users keep up with the market rhythm and grasp the early dividend opportunities.

OpenSea

OpenSea is the world's leading NFT trading platform, allowing users to create, trade, and showcase various non-fungible token assets. The platform is compatible with multiple public chains (such as Ethereum, Polygon, Base, etc.) and continuously expands its cross-chain support to enhance the user trading experience. OpenSea provides a wealth of creator tools and aggregation features, covering various categories including artworks, collectibles, game assets, and more.

OpenSea is currently launching the Voyages reward program, combining the XP and Treasures systems, aimed at increasing user interaction frequency and platform loyalty, creating a more gamified and incentivized NFT ecosystem. Users can obtain XP by participating in designated platform functionalities to unlock Voyages of different rarities (common, rare, epic, and legendary). Among them, legendary Voyages usually appear in the form of "Shipments" and have the chance to receive exclusive rewards called "Treasures," which will be displayed directly on the user's personal homepage.

Participation Method:

1. Go to the OpenSea task page and link your wallet and social account.
2. Complete designated tasks, such as purchasing NFTs, to earn corresponding points.

Treehouse

Treehouse is a platform that combines DeFi operations and reward mechanisms, dedicated to enhancing user engagement through gamified design. The platform allows users to provide liquidity and stake assets across multiple blockchain networks, and incentivizes users to continuously interact through a points system (such as Nuts). Treehouse also introduces Buff and Badge mechanisms, offering additional rewards based on user activity and contribution levels, thereby creating a more sticky and participatory DeFi ecosystem. 【5】

Currently, Treehouse is conducting the second season of the Point Farming event, where users can provide liquidity on networks such as Arbitrum and Mantle to earn Nuts (points). Staking 0.1 ETH earns 1 point per day, and staking LP assets can also earn additional points. Nuts points can be used in the future to exchange for tokens or obtain official rewards.

Participation Method:

1. Go to the Treehouse official page and connect your wallet.
2. Go to the Vaults page and provide liquidity to earn points.

Recall

Recall (formerly Ceramic) is a decentralized data protocol dedicated to providing verifiable user data storage and access layers for AI and Web3 applications. The platform supports users in maintaining their identity and data sovereignty across different platforms by establishing a trustworthy data sharing mechanism, making it particularly suitable for scenarios such as AI agents, on-chain identity, and social graphs.

Currently, Recall is jointly launching a Point Farming event with the Zealy and Galxe platforms, where users can earn Fragments (points) by completing designated tasks. The tasks include obtaining Discord roles, inviting friends, participating in AI Agent matching searches, and more. All interactions have the opportunity to accumulate points and gain eligibility for future airdrops. These points are expected to be used for token redemption or unlocking exclusive rewards within the Recall ecosystem.

Participation Method:

1. Go to the Recall official page and connect your wallet.
2. Complete designated social tasks, such as following the official X account, to earn points.
3. Complete the specified tasks on Zealy and Galxe to earn points.

Sophon

Sophon is a decentralized platform focused on social identity and on-chain interactions, combining AI and zero-knowledge technology to create a verifiable and portable on-chain digital reputation system. The project centers around "on-chain persona," "social graph," and "behavioral data," supporting task systems, NFT authorization, and interactive mining of user value, and plans to introduce incentive mechanisms to promote the development of content creation, DAO collaboration, and identity credentials in Web3 scenarios. [7]

Currently, Sophon is conducting a Beta phase of the Point Farming event, distributing point rewards through a task system. There may be potential airdrops or platform incentives in the future, and the latest tasks and progress can be obtained through its official website or social media platforms.

How to participate:

1. Go to the Sophon official page and link your wallet.
2. Complete specified tasks, such as inviting three friends through a link and subscribing to email.
3. Complete social tasks to earn points.

Tip Airdrop plans and participation methods may be updated at any time. Users are advised to pay attention to the official channels of the above projects for the latest information. At the same time, users should participate cautiously, be aware of risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. [Gate]https://www.gate.com/( There is no guarantee of subsequent airdrop reward distribution.

Summary

Looking back at the market cycle from June 3 to June 16, 2025, the cryptocurrency market as a whole maintained a high-level consolidation pattern. Although there was no systematic recovery, certain small to mid-cap tokens performed well due to structural capital rotation and local thematic drives, indicating that market enthusiasm has not significantly waned. The average increase for the top 500 tokens by market capitalization was 16.65%, with tokens ranked 301-400 showing the most significant increase, exceeding 46%. This reflects the ongoing preference of market capital for assets with topicality, narrative potential, and price elasticity.

From the perspective of changes in trading volume, the two directories of AURA and CONSCIOUS have increased by more than 100 times, which has become the focus of short-term market attention, indicating that funds are actively looking for explosive trading targets. The volume-price linkage chart further reveals that projects in the upper right quadrant often have the resonance characteristics of "volume explosion + price surge", which is sought after by the market. However, although some projects have been traded in large volumes, prices have stagnated, reflecting that the market has divergent expectations for its follow-up.

Overall, this round of the market is characterized mainly by "thematic rotation + mainstream stability," with funds seeking gaming opportunities between narrative-driven and high-volatility targets. Abnormal trading volume remains an important signal for identifying market initiation and assessing market structure, especially in small and medium-sized projects, where it holds greater trading reference value. If the macro environment and regulatory expectations continue to stabilize, the market is expected to accumulate momentum amidst fluctuations, laying the foundation for the market in the second half of the year.

In terms of airdrop projects, the current tracking of projects such as OpenSea, Treehouse, Recall, and Sophon shows characteristics such as a rich variety of application types, clear task paths, and diverse participation methods. These projects focus on popular sectors like NFT, DeFi, social identity, or AI data protocols, with clear ecological positioning and practical scenarios, and they encourage users to engage continuously through a points mechanism. Currently, many are in the early stages of activity or testing, allowing users to accumulate points by completing designated tasks to gain eligibility for subsequent airdrops or platform rewards. Continued attention and participation not only hold the promise of token incentives but also help familiarize users with protocol operations and lock in early benefits.
Reference Material:

1. CoinGecko, [https://www.coingecko.com/])https://www.coingecko.com/(
2. Gate, [https://www.gate.com/announcements/article/45594])https://www.gate.com/announcements/article/45594(
3. X, [https://x.com/Uniswap/status/1933168423825035768])https://x.com/Uniswap/status/1933168423825035768(
4. OpenSea, [https://opensea.io/rewards])https://opensea.io/rewards(
5. Treehouse, [https://www.treehouse.finance/])https://www.treehouse.finance/(
6. Recall, [https://boost.absinthe.network/recall/dashboard])https://boost.absinthe.network/recall/dashboard(
7. Sophon, [https://app.sophon.xyz/leaderboard])https://app.sophon.xyz/leaderboard(

Disclaimer Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products they are purchasing before making any investment decisions. )[Gate]https://www.gate.com/( shall not be liable for any losses or damages resulting from such investment decisions.