Virtuals Protocol’s VIRTUAL and Kaito’s KAITO are among today’s top trending cryptocurrencies, seeing remarkable gains as Bitcoin (BTC) and a majority of altcoins bleed.
According to CoinGecko, the global cryptocurrency market cap has dropped by 3.7% to $3.37 trillion at press time.
This surprising divergence comes amid a sharp rejection in Bitcoin’s price, which fell from a new multi-month high above $107,000 to around $103,000 within hours.
Altcoins followed suit, with Ethereum losing over 4% in a single day, currently hovering around $2,400.
Why is the price of Virtuals Protocol’s VIRTUAL rising?
The price of Virtuals Protocol’s native token, VIRTUAL, has been displaying volatility but remains among the market’s strongest performers over the past month.
At the time of writing, VIRTUAL traded at $1.81, having experienced a modest gain of 2% in the past 24 hours, while posting an impressive 13.7% gain over the past week and over 212% in the last 30 days.
One key factor contributing to VIRTUAL’s resilience is strong investor engagement, driven by consistent platform growth and ecosystem developments.
Notably, the integration of Arbus, a new AI-powered market intelligence layer, appears to have sparked interest.
Arbus is now live on the Virtuals Protocol, offering tools for DeFi agents, data analysis, and dApp development.
Better discovery. Deeper analysis. @arbusai is now live on Virtuals Protocol.
As traders seek more advanced insights and data infrastructure, such collaborations boost Virtuals Protocol’s perceived utility and relevance in a highly competitive sector.
However, technical analysis suggests caution. A potential triple top pattern is forming, indicating bearish momentum may be building.
After repeated failed breakouts above the $2.08 resistance level, VIRTUAL could soon retest its neckline around $1.66.
If support fails, the next potential downside target lies near $1.23.
Despite these risks, strong historical price performance and consistent trading activity support the token’s current standing among top altcoin movers.
Why is the price of KAITO rising?
KAITO, the native token of the Kaito AI ecosystem, is gaining significant traction amid a broader market sell-off.
Trading at $1.90 with an 8.6% daily increase, KAITO has shown sustained momentum in recent weeks.
It has climbed from a monthly low of $0.6747 in mid-April to a recent peak of $2.11, before settling into its current range.
While it remains 34% below the February 2025 all-time high (ATH) of $2.92 according to CoinMarketCap, KAITO’s current bullish momentum points to a possible surge above the ATH soon.
One of the primary drivers of KAITO’s surge is the platform’s growing influence within the Web3 social and AI-powered content economy.
Kaito’s innovative approach, which combines AI content generation with decentralised incentives, has attracted a large user base.
The Kaito Yapper leaderboard, which rewards users for quality engagement and content sharing, is fueling demand.
This week alone, over $5,000 in USDS is being distributed to the top 20 participants, with additional incentives for regional contributors.
Additionally, the platform is now integrated with high-profile campaigns such as Novastro’s token rewards and OpenLedger’s content initiatives.
These collaborative efforts are creating a strong flywheel effect for user acquisition, while the KAITO token remains central to reward distribution.
Furthermore, users are publicly reporting large earnings from Kaito-related campaigns and airdrops, adding to the hype and drawing in new speculators.
Kaito’s strong community engagement, coupled with its airdrop success stories, is helping maintain its upward trajectory even as most of the crypto market struggles to recover.
Other altcoins to watch as Ethereum and Bitcoin bleed
While the broader crypto landscape faces downward pressure, a few other altcoins are also managing to defy the trend and post strong gains.
Among them is Collaterize (COLLAT), which has soared by over 73% in the past 24 hours, trading around $0.0504.
Its market cap now exceeds $50 million, and its 7-day performance is up more than 130%, making it the top gainer of the day.
Another strong performer is Keeta (KTA), which has risen nearly 25%, followed by Acet (ACT) and SX Network (SX), both registering double-digit gains.
These assets are drawing liquidity in a market that appears to be favouring highly speculative, low-cap projects during this correction phase.
Interestingly, the rise of these altcoins coincides with increased Bitcoin dominance, which has climbed back above 61%.
This suggests that while larger-cap altcoins like Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Shiba Inu (SHIB) are under pressure, traders are rotating into smaller-cap assets that offer quicker potential returns.
The current market dynamic reveals a split strategy among investors, cautious on majors but aggressively opportunistic with emerging altcoins.
This bifurcation could persist, especially if Bitcoin remains range-bound and fails to reclaim new highs.
The post VIRTUAL and KAITO defy market slump with surprise gains appeared first on Invezz
https://invezz.com/news/2025/05/19/virtual-and-kaito-defy-market-slump-with-surprise-gains/
