The bullish sentiment around Fantom has significantly increased as investors expect the Sonic upgrade.

Fantom (FTM) recorded an 11% surge in the past 24 hours and is trading at $0.56 at the time of writing. The asset’s market cap surpassed the $1.5 billion mark, making it the 48th-largest cryptocurrency.

Moreover, FTM’s daily trading volume increased by 26%, reaching $270 million.

The FTM price surge comes as investors show positive sentiment toward the platform’s upgrade to Sonic Labs. 

According to its blog post, the transition was first announced on Aug. 1 and the Sonic testnet went live on Sept. 6. The new layer-1 network is said to be more scalable with a gateway to the Ethereum blockchain.

The S token is also scheduled to come out this year with a 1:1 ratio with the FTM token, per the announcement.

According to data provided by Santiment, the weighted sentiment around Fantom surged to levels not seen since March 2023, when the asset’s price rose from $0.31 to $0.52. 

Meanwhile, the number of whale transactions consisting of at least $100,000 worth of FTM also climbed from 5 to 17 unique transactions per day since Sept. 14, per data from Santiment.

Higher whale activity usually boosts an asset’s price volatility. This could bring increased liquidations, leading to a price correction.

Data from the market intelligence platform shows that the FTM Relative Strength Index is currently sitting at 63, indicating that the asset is slightly overbought at this price point. 

If the RSI surpasses the 75 mark, a price correction would be expected for FTM as the broader cryptocurrency market is witnessing increased volatility ahead of the U.S. Fed rate-cut decision.