ApeCoin (APE) price has exploded higher on anticipations that it would become a de-facto payment token in an upcoming metaverse land sale.
APE price swelled nearly 28% in one day to reach over $17 per token on April 20. The rally came as a part of a rebound from three-day lows under $11, resulting in a 55% gain.
APE/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView
BAYC land airdrop
A rumor circulating across social media platforms since April 18 suggested that the owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs may receive virtual lands on the Yuga Labs’ much-anticipated “Otherside” metaverse platform.
Alpha leak: these projects will be auto whitelisted to mint Otherside land.
BAYC – airdrop (center land)
MAYC – airdrop (mid land)
CryptoPunks – WL (outer rim)
Meebits – WL (outer rim)
Cool Cats – WL (outer rim)
Nouns – WL (outer rim)
WoW – WL (outer rim)
Toadz – WL (outer rim) pic.twitter.com/gZ5ldAdoQM– Willy ₿ullish (@WillyTheDegen) April 18, 2022
Otherside will be an MMORPG game where players can employ their NFTs as native avatars or characters. A leaker investor pitch deck showed that Yuga Labs expects to earn $178 million by selling virtual lands, with APE acting as the de-facto token to process these purchases.
Some BAYC NFT owners claimed that Yuga Labs would sell the Otherside virtual lands via a Dutch auction. In doing so, the firm could set the minimum bid at 600 APE, about $10,700 at today’s price.
Was just sent some huge alpha re @yugalabs land drop. The sale will be a Dutch auction of some sort starting at 600 $APE.
BAYC / MAYC (Airdrop)
Punks, Meebits, Cool Cats, Nounz, WoW, Toadz (Auto WL)Get your $APE ready. Looks like we’re gonna need it. #BAYC #OTHERSIDE
– renegademaster / guccibayc.eth (@renegademasterr) April 20, 2022
Given this potential use-case, demand for ApeCoin may grow higher, which could partially explain APE’s upside momentum in the last three days.
APE undergoing bullish breakout
The latest bout of buying in the APE spot market saw the APE/USD pair break out of a classic bullish continuation pattern.
Related: How to get premium high-resolution metaverse and NFT images
As Cointelegraph reported earlier, breaking above the so-called “bull pennant” with decisive volumes could have ApeCoin rally above $40 in the next few months.
Meanwhile, if the technical pattern turns out to be a “symmetrical triangle” instead, APE’s upside target will be near $22, according to the setup shown below.
APE/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView
ApeCoin now targets the 0.236 Fib line (~$16) of the Fibonacci retracement graph, drawn from $41-swing high to $8.50-swing low, as its interim resistance. A pullback from the said price ceiling would risk sending APE toward the triangle’s top near $12.50.
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