Lucky Trader Rides $341 World Cup Meme Coin Buy to 14,000% Gains

A lucky trader bought $341 of a World Cup-themed Solana meme coin in mid-May, when it had a market capitalization of less than $40,000. Since then, the token has soared more than 30,000%, with the trader notching 14,000% gains after selling more than $49,000 of their holdings.

World Cup Coin launched on May 11, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which starts in June—and has historically been the most-watched sporting event in the world. Alongside this token, meme coins for each nation competing in the tournament were launched on Solana token launchpad Pump.fun—though it’s important to note that this is not an official FIFA World Cup project.

Just hours after launch, according to DEX Screener, the aforementioned trader bought $341 worth of the World Cup Coin via five transactions. For the next 12 hours, the token traded sideways before it surged to a $2.18 million market cap and then to $6 million the day afterwards. Through these two pumps, the trader sold $35,700 worth of tokens.

World Cup Coin then traded down 49% to a $3.15 million market cap over the coming week, just before it spiked to an all-time high of $12.2 million on May 21—up more than 30,000% from the trader’s first purchase. Again, the trader sold a chunk of his bag, now bringing his total realized gains to $49,400 via 78 transactions, according to block explorer SolScan.

At the time of writing, the meme coin sits at an $8.37 million market cap, and the lucky trader is sitting on $108,200 in holdings, according to DEX Screener. Combined with the realized gains, the trader’s initial $341 has now turned into $157,600—although their unrealized gains could vanish if the token’s value drops.

Why not sell?

Hype around the World Cup Coin has grown as the soccer tournament nears, with traders speculating that its value will soar with the June 11 kickoff between hosts Mexico and underdogs South Africa. Prediction market Myriad gives Mexico a 68% chance of winning the opening game (Disclaimer: Myriad is owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan).

The FIFA World Cup is widely regarded as the biggest sporting event in the world. The Qatar 2022 World Cup final attracted 1.5 billion global viewers, according to FIFA. To put that into perspective, the most-watched Super Bowl of all time only garnered 125.6 million viewers, per research firm Nielsen.

Trading events like this isn’t anything new for meme coin degens, who have historically hyped tokens leading up to historical events, anniversaries, and cultural holidays. However, these tokens usually tank in valuation shortly after the event starts or passes.

Alongside holding the World Cup Coin, traders have accumulated coins named after specific nations competing in the tournament—tokens created by the central World Cup Coin deployer. France, Spain, and Portugal have the highest market cap tokens at $315,000, $255,000, and $225,000, respectively, per Pump.fun. The lucky trader also owns a sizable amount of nation coins, per SolScan, with $9,400 in Spain as his biggest single nation holding.

It appears that traders are purchasing tokens in line with who they deem as the most likely to perform well in the tournament. France, Spain, and Portugal are amongst the favorites to win the tournament, according to Myriad, alongside England, Brazil, and Argentina.

The World Cup final is scheduled for July 19, when the best soccer nation will be crowned—will degens figure out how to profit from it?