Here’s why Pancakeswap’s CAKE surged over 20% today

CAKE formed a God candle on March 18, jumping 23% to hit an intraday high of $2.63 while pushing its weekly gains close to 70%.

The altcoin’s daily trading volume tripled to around $1.12 billion while its market cap neared $760 million.

The rally coincided with a strong interest from derivative traders. CoinGlass data shows that open interest shot up 73% over the past day to $96 million, more than tripling from $30 million seen at the start of 2025.

Pancakeswap’s (CAKE) gains today come amid investor hype as Pancakeswap became the most active decentralized exchange by daily trading volume for two straight days.

Data from DefiLlama shows that PancakeSwap hit nearly $1.64 billion in 24-hour trading volume on Tuesday, March 18, surpassing Uniswap and Raydium, which saw $1.021 billion and $334.98 million, respectively. 

PancakeSwap now holds over 30% of the decentralized exchange market share for that period.

PancakeSwap’s impressive performance is being driven by a few key factors. One big reason is Binance’s decision to delist Tether (USDT) and eight other stablecoins for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) set for March 31 due to compliance with the EU’s MiCA regulations. 

Because of this, many Binance users seem to have moved their USDT to PancakeSwap, leading to a surge in trading volume. The DEX processed over $352.4 million in USDT trades in 24 hours, making up about 31% of its total volume.

Another boost came from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who reignited interest in memecoins after a tweet inspired the creation of BNB Chain-based MUBARAK. The token has since surged over 270% in the past week.

According to PancakeSwap V3 data, after Zhao mentioned MUBARAK, it became the third most traded asset on the platform, trailing only USDT and Wrapped BNB (WBNB).

Meanwhile, another key factor behind CAKE’s gains today is Binance’s recent $2 billion investment in the Abu Dhabi-based tech investment firm MGX, which has boosted confidence in Binance-linked projects like PancakeSwap, which operates on Binance-backed BNB Chain.

Additionally, PancakeSwap has recently burned over 9.3 million CAKE, worth approximately $23 million. Typically, token burning permanently removes these tokens from circulation, reducing the total supply, which can help increase scarcity and potentially boost the related token’s value over time.

On-chain metrics indicate strong bullish sentiment. Per Santiment data, social sentiment surrounding CAKE has flipped positive, alongside a spike in daily active addresses over the past 48 hours.

Further, a number of large holders were seen accumulating CAKE, likely due to confidence in its future potential. Such accumulation trends often draw in retail investors, who join in hoping for quick profits, increasing demand for the altcoin.

CAKE price analysis

Technical indicators also signal a sustained bullish trend over the coming days.

On the 1-day/USDT price chart, CAKE has broken above a descending resistance trendline forming since Feb. 13, marked by lower highs and lower lows. 

The 50-day exponential moving average lines are showing signs of a golden cross as the 50-day EMA looks poised to cross over the 200-day EMA soon, a development that points to more gains ahead.

Meanwhile, the MACD lines are trending upward, and the Supertrend indicator has turned green, both signs of a strong uptrend.

As such, CAKE is eyeing resistance at $2.65, a breakout above this could lead it to target the $2.95 level, its highest point in February this year.

But if the uptrend loses steam, CAKE might pull back to $2.33, even though PancakeSwap remains the top DEX on BNB Chain.

Meanwhile, some analysts note that for the bullish rally to continue, CAKE must hold above the $2.40-$2.70 support range. If it maintains this level, it expects CAKE to gain momentum and target the next resistance at $2.90.