Pudgy Penguins launches Essentials as whales trim positions
Pudgy Penguins (PENGU)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
cryptobriefing.com reports that Pudgy Penguins launched its new Essentials collection on September 22, targeting everyday consumers rather than crypto-native audiences. The project has placed plush toys in over 1,800 Target locations since July 2026 and added product placements in Walmart stores. Luca Netz, who acquired the original collection in April 2022 for 750 ETH, aims to grow the $PENGU holder base from roughly 4,000 to nearly 1 million.
On-chain data shows a divergence in holder behavior, with top profit-and-loss traders and smart money wallets increasing their holdings tied to the launch. Conversely, whale addresses quietly reduced their positions around the time of the drop. The $PENGU token launched in December 2024 with a total supply of 88.88 billion tokens.
A significant airdrop allocated 25.9% of the supply to the community to help establish a broad holder base early on. This strategy supports the project's shift toward diversified revenue rather than relying on secondary market royalties. The mass-market product strategy gives the project a plausible path to achieve Netz’s aggressive growth target.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for PENGU, measured when this story was written up on 23 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
PENGU is trading at $0.01006 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 52.8%, indicating that buyers are slightly more active than sellers over the full day. However, the 1-hour buy ratio has dropped to 46.3%, suggesting that immediate buying pressure is fading compared to the 4-hour reading of 52.9%. The volume delta reflects this shift, showing a net outflow of -$101,480 in the last hour after a net inflow of +$557,125 over the previous four hours. The volume delta measures the net difference between buy and sell volume, so a negative figure means more money flowed out via sells than buys. Despite the recent hourly dip, the 24-hour volume delta remains positive at +$2,322,411, with cumulative buy volume exceeding sell volume by $2,014,296 by the close.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.4% sits at the 59th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 50.0% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for PENGU, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, PENGU experienced an unusual surge in activity, with spot volume reaching 3.46 times its average daily level. This elevated volume contributed to a 46.7% price increase over the eight-day period. The latest day saw a buy ratio of 51.1%, which is 1.7 percentage points higher than the weekly average, indicating sustained but slightly intensified buying interest. While the immediate hourly flow has cooled, the broader weekly trend shows significantly higher engagement than normal. This contrasts with the current hourly outflow, highlighting a shift from the intense weekly accumulation to a more balanced short-term trade.