Total market capitalization of meme coins is on the rise and at an all-time high of $134 billion, data from CoinMarketCap shows. Notable ‘mini breakouts’ in several of the top meme coins are driving this surge in investor interest.
Meme coins’ social activity has surged over the past eight days, with mentions and discussions jumping higher than ever, according to market intelligence platform Santiment. The coins with the most traction are Dogecoin, Pepe, Dogwifhat and Bonk. Investor interest is being fuelled, in particular, from Pepe who continues to dominate the social dominance chart.
Whales Push Meme Coin Prices, Causing FOMO
The price movement is likely being played by large holders, or ‘whales’, able to push prices higher, and higher, generating a feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) with retail investors. While this will ramp prices short term, there’s also the risk of a sharp selloff if the whales want to take profits, and thus considerable volatility.
Recent upward momentum means the meme coin market is consistently sensitive to the social trends and external factors like FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). For example, the price of the Hawk Tuah meme coin (HAWK) recently plunged from $500 million to $60 million in just 20 mins, but these are dangerous assets.
As of now, leading meme coins like Dogecoin ($67 billion, $36.7 billion) and Shiba Inu ($18.6 billion, $6.7 billion) are still able to stand on their own. But Pepe is outshining everyone with a new all time peak of $0.0000266 as late Saturday. Pepe is still up 12% in the past 24 hours even in spite of a minor correction to $0.0000245.
BinanceUS’ announcement comes a day after BinanceUS said it planned to launch tradinng for Pepe for U.S. users, as the crypto sector braces for the approach of regulatory changes by the next administration in the U.S. under President elect Donald Trump.
