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BNB Chain’s meme coin rally has come to a sudden halt, with several tokens plunging between 60% and 95% in the past 24 hours.
The sharp downturn followed a statement from Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who clarified that his social media posts should not be taken as trading signals or endorsements.
Zhao’s comments came in response to a post by trader YazanXBT, who warned users that naming tokens after CZ or sending coins to his wallet would not reduce trading risks. “My tweets are not endorsements,” Zhao wrote on X.
“Now I just tweet normally, any overlap to memes is coincidental.” His remark quickly triggered a sell-off across BNB Chain’s leading decentralized exchange, PancakeSwap, where the majority of these memecoins trade.
Over 100,000 Traders Join BNB Meme Frenzy Before $800M Market Crash
Dozens of tokens that had surged during what traders called the “BNB Meme Szn” lost most of their value within hours.
Market data from Bubblemaps shows that more than 100,000 on-chain traders participated in the BNB meme coin boom earlier this week, with nearly 70% showing profits at its peak.
One trader reportedly earned over $10 million, while dozens more made seven-figure gains as volumes across BNB Chain decentralized exchanges hit record highs.
PancakeSwap alone processed nearly $80 billion in trading volume in September, its busiest month since late 2021, and recorded $30 billion in just the first nine days of October.
But those gains evaporated quickly as liquidity drained and traders rushed to exit positions. Several popular coins, including $HODL, $SAFU, $BROCCOLI, and $PUP, have dropped between 80% and 95% since Zhao’s clarification.
The sell-off also hit Chinese-themed tokens that had dominated the recent meme rally.
Coins like 币安人生 (Binance Life) fell from a $500 million market cap to a fraction of that in less than a day, while PALU, which surged 1,693% after briefly trending on Binance Alpha, also saw massive losses.
On-chain data from Lookonchain revealed that a major trader withdrew 5,090 BNB, worth about $6.6 million, from Binance to join the rally, investing heavily in several tokens now deep in the red. The wallet currently sits on unrealized losses of roughly $1.2 million.
Analysts say parts of the market were also hit by rug pulls, with some tokens vanishing after collecting liquidity from buyers. The token HODL, a top performer in the early phase of the BNB meme surge, was among those that collapsed.
The rapid reversal has fueled debate about sustainability in the memecoin market, with analysts warning that most short-lived tokens are built around fleeting hype rather than lasting value.
The “BNB Meme Szn,” which began as a community-driven frenzy after BNB Chain’s official X account was briefly hacked, had seen traders mint over 35,000 new tokens in 24 hours.
At its peak, the market’s capitalization reached around $2.1 billion before dropping to $1.3 billion following the crash.
BNB Pulls Back After Record Run Despite Network Milestones
BNB, the native token of BNB Chain, slipped 2% in 24 hours to around $1,270 as memecoin trades on the network began to unwind, even as on-chain activity hit new highs.
The decline followed a sharp increase in trading volume and came despite BNB Chain recording 5 trillion gas used in a single day, driven by 24 million swap transactions.
The selloff saw BNB fall from $1,308 to $1,255 before stabilizing near $1,270. High-volume buying emerged between $1,255 and $1,280, but the token struggled to reclaim resistance around $1,320, leaving short-term bearish pressure intact.
The retracement comes after an explosive month-long rally that lifted BNB by 45% and pushed it to the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind Bitcoin and Ethereum.
On October 7, BNB hit a record $1,295, up 84% year-to-date and outpacing both BTC and ETH in performance.
Technically, BNB broke above a long-term diagonal resistance earlier this month, confirming a bullish structure shift.
Analysts note that price action now sits in a correction phase, with potential support around $1,100 to $1,150 for a shallow pullback or deeper support between $900 and $1,000 near the trendline and Fibonacci mid-zone.
Despite short-term exhaustion, the medium-term outlook remains positive.
BNB continues to benefit from growing network usage, including the adoption of a standard 0.05 Gwei gas fee across Binance and Trust Wallet, which has made on-chain activity faster and cheaper.
Analysts say that if buying momentum returns at key retracement zones, BNB could resume its uptrend toward new highs later this quarter.
