TOP 3 outstanding altcoins today – September 24

Aster (ASTER), Zcash (ZEC) and Pump.fun (PUMP) have proven their resilience by overcoming the severe fluctuations of the crypto market in the past 24 hours, rising to the leading group in terms of growth. Aster has kicked off a breakout thanks to a strong increase in trading volume, while the wave of interest in Zcash along with the derive market Pump.fun continues to fuel momentum for the upward trend.

Aster aims for new heights as the upward trend is maintained

As of Wednesday morning, Aster (ASTER) is trading around the $2.00 mark, just shy of the historical peak of $2.15 set on Tuesday. The token of this DEX exchange continues to maintain an impressive performance, rising more than 4% on the day, extending a 19% breakout from the previous session.

According to Coinphoton's observations, the trading volume of Aster's perpetual contracts in the last 24 hours has exceeded 11 billion USD. DeFiLlama data also shows that Aster is leading the entire DeFi sector in daily revenue, reaching 7.12 million USD – far surpassing Hyperliquid with only 2.79 million USD, if stablecoins are excluded.

Ranking DeFi protocols by revenue | Source: DeFiLlamaOn the 4-hour chart, ASTER is hitting a significant resistance level at pivot R1 at 2.07 USD. If it breaks out and successfully closes above this level, Aster could extend its upward momentum towards R2 at 2.76 USD. Conversely, a correction from 2.07 USD could pull the price back to test the central pivot area at 1.30 USD.

ASTER/USDT chart 4-hour | Source: TradingView## Zcash consolidates its leading momentum thanks to the explosion of open contracts

Zcash decreased slightly by 1% at the time of writing on Wednesday, after recording an impressive rise to the sky of 13% in the previous session. This anonymous token just reached its highest closing level since January 16, while also breaking through the important resistance level at pivot R1 54.13 USD.

According to data from CoinGlass, the open contract (OI) of Zcash rose to the sky by 39% in 24 hours, reaching 19.04 million USD, reflecting an increasing confidence from traders. Adding positive signals, the funding rate remains at 0.0145%, indicating that the bulls are willing to pay fees to balance the Futures price with the Spot price, reinforcing the optimistic sentiment in the crypto market.

ZEC derivative data | Source: CoinGlassAfter a slight correction, ZEC has the potential to bounce back, targeting the resistance level R2 at 56.41 USD. The daily increase also helps technical indicators on the daily chart improve: RSI reaches 63, moving above the neutral threshold, reflecting increased buying pressure; MACD crosses above the signal line, indicating the end of the short-term weakening period. If MACD continues to trend upwards, Zcash may extend its rise.

Daily ZEC/USDT Chart | Source: TradingViewConversely, if ZEC closes below 54.13 USD, the breakout scenario will be dismissed and the price may retreat to the 200-day EMA at 42.35 USD.

Pump.fun bounces back from the 200-period EMA

As of the update on Wednesday, Pump.fun (PUMP) is trading around 0.005900 USD, having bounced off the 200 EMA line on the 4-hour chart. This token is maintaining stability above the important psychological threshold of 0.005000 USD and the S1 pivot level at 0.005779 USD.

In a bullish scenario, PUMP may face its first resistance at the downward-sloping 50-period EMA at 0.006629 USD, before challenging the central pivot level of 0.007267 USD.

Data from CoinGlass shows that the Long position ratio has increased from 49.71% to 52.78% in just 24 hours, reflecting a clear shift in market sentiment towards optimism. On the 4-hour chart, the RSI has bounced off the oversold area at 40, indicating that selling pressure is gradually easing, while the MACD line crossing above the signal line is reinforcing the likelihood of a recovery.

The buy/sell ratio chart of PUMP | Source: CoinGlassOn the contrary, if PUMP falls below the 200-period EMA at 0.005571 USD, the price may retrace to test the pivot level S2 at 0.005023 USD, opening up short-term adjustment risks.

PUMP/USDT chart 4-hour | Source: TradingViewSN_Nour