In the early hours of November 25, MON experienced a roller-coaster ride on Gate and other exchanges. According to Gate market data, MON surged to $0.038 at one point before sharply retreating to around $0.032.
Although this price is 20% higher than the public sale price of $0.025, it also marks a drop of over 20% from the intraday high, reflecting the market’s complex sentiment following the token distribution.
01 Sales Progress: Public Sale Falls Short of Expectations
Signs of weakness were already apparent during Monad’s public sale, even before the token was listed for trading. The sale, which began on November 18, aimed to raise $187.5 million but only achieved about 78.4% of its target.
A total of 7.5 billion MON tokens were offered in the sale, representing 7.5% of the total supply, with each token priced at $0.025.
At this price, Monad’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) reached $2.5 billion.
This valuation stands out, especially for a project whose mainnet performance has yet to be proven.
The slow progress of the public sale aligns with the broader market skepticism toward high FDV projects. Despite Monad raising $244 million in previous funding rounds, retail investors have remained relatively cautious.
02 Token Distribution: High Concentration Raises Future Risks
MON’s tokenomics suggest that its distribution model could lead to significant selling pressure down the line.
Of the total supply of 100 billion MON tokens, 27% is allocated to the team, 19.7% to investors, and 40% to community and ecosystem rewards.
What’s more, both team and investor tokens are subject to lock-up periods. Team tokens are locked for one year, followed by gradual vesting over three to four years.
Investor tokens will also be released linearly over four years, meaning the market will face ongoing sell pressure from token unlocks for several years.
Currently, only 38.5% of the tokens (about 38.5 billion MON) entered circulation at launch for ecosystem development, while 50.6% of the total supply (including allocations for the team, early investors, and foundation treasury) remains locked.
These locked tokens will begin to vest in the second half of 2026 and continue through 2029.
03 Market Performance: Volatile Surge Followed by Weak Momentum
MON officially began trading on November 24 across several exchanges, including Gate. After launch, MON showed strong momentum, soaring from its public sale price of $0.025 to a peak of $0.038—a gain of over 50%.
However, this rally was short-lived. By November 25, MON had pulled back from its highs, trading around $0.032, which corresponds to a fully diluted valuation of approximately $3.03 billion.
Even so, MON’s current price remains 21.2% above the public sale price, outperforming many tokens listed during the same period.
The price volatility was not limited to spot trading. According to Gate’s official announcement, MON’s pre-market OTC trading ended on November 24 at 14:30 UTC, with settlement completed between 17:00 and 19:00 UTC on November 25.
04 Competitive Landscape: High Valuation Tests Market Patience
Monad positions itself as a high-performance, EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, promising 10,000 TPS and 0.4-second block times.
Yet, these technological ambitions face fierce competition. Other high-performance blockchains like Solana, Aptos, and Sui have already built substantial ecosystems and user bases.
While Monad’s testnet processes over 15 million transactions daily, showcasing impressive throughput, the mainnet’s real-world performance remains to be seen.
With a fully diluted valuation of $3.03 billion, MON is under pressure to compete directly with established Layer 1 projects.
Growing skepticism toward high FDV projects is a key reason why MON’s public sale fell short of expectations.
05 Outlook: Ecosystem Growth Is Critical
For Monad and the MON token, short-term price swings are just a small chapter in a much longer journey. Long-term value will depend primarily on the health and growth of the ecosystem after mainnet launch.
Fortunately, Monad’s mainnet debuted with support from several major crypto applications, including MetaMask, Phantom, Curve, and Uniswap.
Additionally, both USDC and USDT stablecoins are integrated into the Monad network, providing essential financial infrastructure for the ecosystem.
Following the mainnet launch on November 24, Monad’s ability to attract more developers and users and build a thriving decentralized application ecosystem will directly determine the long-term value of the MON token.
Future Prospects
The future of the MON token hinges on whether the Monad mainnet can truly deliver on its promise of 10,000 TPS performance and whether it can attract developers to build a vibrant ecosystem.
The price charts on Gate are more than just numbers—they represent the market’s ongoing reassessment of a new technology as it moves from vision to reality.
