The recent MEME rally has sparked debate—are we witnessing the return of a MEME bull market or just idle capital making a temporary comeback in a dull market? PANews analyzed several large wallet addresses holding recently surging MEME tokens.

Since mid-March, the MEME sector has shown renewed activity. Fartcoin, for example, rebounded from its bottom, posting a nearly 349% gain in a month, with its market cap briefly nearing $985 million. These moves coincided with large on-chain investments from whales, some spending millions on tokens like Fartcoin and RFC, driving rapid surges in market cap.

Notably, on April 11, active addresses on Solana once again surpassed 5.1 million, approaching the January peak.

Is this latest mini-MEME rally the early sign of a full-blown MEME bull market making a comeback — or just a brief return of speculative capital in an otherwise dull market?

To find clues, PANews analyzed whale activity across several of the top-performing MEME tokens in recent days.

Fartcoin: Whale Entry in Mid-March, Average Cost Around $0.62

After reviewing several previously high-cap MEME tokens, PANews found that this MEME rally was not broad-based—it was mostly concentrated around a few select tokens. Many major MEMEs (like Trump, BONK, WIF, POPCAT) remained stagnant or declining. Among the tokens tracked by PANews, aside from Fartcoin, most are either newly launched within the past one to two months or have remained relatively under the radar since their inception.

The tokens under observation include: RFC, Fartcoin, ALCH, GOHOME, DARK, House, and FAT.

Selection criteria included tokens with market caps between $10M and $100M+, and those with significant price increases in the past 1–3 months. Among them, RFC posted the most explosive growth, with a monthly gain of up to 54x.

Leading this MEME wave is Fartcoin, which began a new uptrend after bottoming out on March 10, reaching a market cap of $948 million, reclaiming its position as a sector leader.

Whale wallet analysis shows that most big players started buying in mid-March, continuing to accumulate until April 10.

Whale Entry Timeline – Fartcoin

Cost analysis reveals that the top 1,000 wallets mainly entered at price ranges between $0.20–$0.60 and $0.60–$0.90. Very few whales appear to be stuck above $1, suggesting most entered at favorable prices, especially after the March 12 bottom.

Whale Average Entry Cost – Fartcoin

On average, the whale cost basis for Fartcoin is $0.62. At the current price of $0.844, these whales are sitting on an average 36% profit.

23% of Wallets Hold Multiple Tokens: DARK and RFC Show Repeat Patterns

Cross-analysis of the top 1,000 holders in each token revealed that 23% of addresses hold more than one MEME token. Among these, DARK had the highest overlap, with 116 whales also holding it.

Following closely is RFC, which appears in 110 of these overlapping addresses. While Fartcoin (FAT) has garnered significant market attention recently and holds the highest market cap among the tokens studied, it only appears 76 times among shared holdings. According to PANews, this may be due to FAT’s market cap having already risen to a relatively high level, prompting many early whales to exit or rotate into other positions. As historical snapshots of whale activity aren’t readily available, it’s difficult to draw definitive conclusions.

However, based on patterns from RFC and DARK, it seems both tokens may be following similar patterns.

Notably, their price charts show comparable trajectories—despite launching at different times, both exhibit similar correction and rebound patterns. The overlap in large holders also supports this theory, with over 110 shared addresses for each. A deeper look reveals that 75 addresses simultaneously hold both DARK and RFC, making it the most common whale pairing. This is followed by FAT and House, held by 35 addresses.

Further analysis of wallet activity shows that the majority of whales first bought RFC on April 13 and DARK on April 14. On April 13, RFC surged 65% with a 107% intraday swing. The next day, DARK followed with an 80% gain and a staggering 218% intraday swing. This back-to-back price action strongly resembles coordinated whale rotation.

Initial Purchase Dates of Major Holders – RFC

Initial Purchase Dates of Major Holders – DARK

It’s worth noting that while RFC’s market cap peaked at $138 million, DARK’s high was just $23 million, suggesting these whales are influential but not omnipotent. It also indicates that expectations for DARK may differ, and it’s unlikely to replicate RFC’s market cap trajectory.

Other token pairings—such as FAT/House and DARK/House—also appear frequently in whale portfolios.

“Artificial Bull” Favors MEME Culture and AI Narratives

Altogether, these overlapping whale addresses hold nearly $100 million across the seven tokens analyzed (excluding major CEX holdings such as Gate, Bitget, and Raydium), representing 8.47% of their combined market cap.

As of early April 16, most of these tokens have entered a correction phase. FAT has retraced 72.51% from its high, House is down 50%, and the average correction across tokens is 37.12%. The exception is ALCH, whose retracement is minimal. ALCH also happens to be the only token among the group with a real-world AI application, although it may simply be mid-cycle in a broader sector rotation and has yet to enter its distribution phase.

Behind this MEME rally, there are hints of an artificially driven MEME bull market. Twitter user @MasonCanoe noted that whale addresses driving up RFC are linked to wallets involved in past market-making activities for tokens like TRUMP, VIRTUAL, and LIBRA—and also to early RFC positions. Based on this, @MasonCanoe believes RFC’s rise wasn’t organic but a calculated move by deep-pocketed entities.

Data suggests that Solana’s MEME sector is indeed regaining traction, largely fueled by a few key whales. However, since this momentum doesn’t benefit all MEME tokens equally, tracking whale wallet flows remains essential. From a thematic standpoint, tokens tied to AI and MEME culture are outperforming, while traditional animal-themed coins—cats, dogs, frogs—have underwhelmed during this rally.

In general, the current MEME hype on Solana is far from broad-based. It’s heavily concentrated in a few select tokens, with Fartcoin leading the charge and attracting a wave of new whales since mid-March. What’s even more notable is the significant overlap in whale addresses holding both RFC and DARK, two tokens with strikingly similar price patterns. Most of these large holders initiated their positions on April 13 and 14, right around the time both tokens experienced sharp price surges. This timing strongly suggests potential coordinated activity or capital rotation among key players. This rally doesn’t appear to be a purely organic market move—it carries the hallmarks of a “manufactured bull run.” Whether this artificial pump can evolve into sustained, organic capital inflows remains to be seen.

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