After a spectacular increase, the memecoin market has entered a painful reset, with memecoin market capitalization collapsing at the same time as Bitcoin price holds close to report territory.
From $150.6B peak to sub-$40B bust
Based on CoinGecko, whole meme-coin market capitalization hit an all-time excessive of $150.6 billion in December 2024, powered by a wave of latest canine, frog, AI and political tokens. Nonetheless, that momentum shortly pale as speculative extra and hype gave strategy to concern.
By November 2025, the sector had retraced sharply. CoinGecko knowledge put memecoin market cap round $47.2 billion, whereas CoinMarketCap and CoinGlass charts confirmed roughly $39.4 billion on November 21, 2025. In impact, the house has suffered a drawdown of about 73% from its late 2024 peak.
The bust has opened a large hole between speculative meme tokens and main cryptocurrencies. Whereas the mixed worth of meme belongings has plunged from roughly $150 billion to the high-$30s billion, Bitcoin itself has held close to multi-month highs round $80,000–$90,000.
Meme coin mania and 2024’s buying and selling increase
Final 12 months’s rally was broad and frenzied, extending far past Dogecoin. CoinGecko studies that every day memecoin trading volumes jumped about +767% year-over-year in 2024, at one stage topping $87.4 billion. Furthermore, newly launched tokens flooded the market throughout a number of blockchains.
New launchpads, most notably Solana-based Pump.enjoyable, made it simpler than ever to problem joke tokens. On the identical time, high-profile listings on Robinhood and Coinbase for cash like PEPE and WIF added a layer of perceived legitimacy and drew in retail merchants on the lookout for fast beneficial properties.
Dogecoin did regain prominence, but the panorama was much more numerous than in 2021. Tokens resembling PEPE, BONK, SHIB and a whole lot of different so-called “humorous cash” chased upside in an more and more crowded subject. That stated, the dearth of fundamentals behind most of those belongings remained a persistent threat.
By December 2024, the mixed market capitalization of all meme tokens, together with DOGE, reached $150.6 billion, almost double the earlier peak of $88 billion recorded in 2021. The speculative excessive was extensively described as a brand new memecoin market season, with traders trying to find the subsequent viral breakout slightly than specializing in established initiatives.
For context, Bitcoin value had already climbed above $60,000 by late 2024. Nonetheless, a lot of the crypto narrative shifted towards high-beta memecoins as a substitute of large-cap belongings, underscoring how shortly sentiment can rotate towards riskier corners of the market.
Excessive-profile political flops set off a confidence shock
The downtrend accelerated as early 2025 introduced a sobering actuality test. Analysts level to rising criticism of meme tokens’ lack of real-world utility, mixed with a string of spectacular pump-and-dump occasions that broken belief. Furthermore, a number of politically themed launches was expensive failures for retail merchants.
In January 2025, political figureheads launched their very own cash and then successfully deserted them. U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Solana-based token TRUMP rallied to about $75 on January 19, 2025, earlier than crashing greater than 90% to roughly $5.42. The token grew to become a textbook instance of pump and dump tokens.
Equally, Argentina’s President Javier Milei backed a token referred to as LIBRA that surged to a $107 million market capitalization and then collapsed. Based on estimates, round 86% of contributors misplaced roughly $251 million on that commerce, highlighting how political meme tokens can amplify threat.
These high-profile meltdowns shattered investor confidence and accelerated the market slide. CoinGecko explicitly hyperlinks the mid-2025 crash to such occasions, citing “crucial evaluations in regards to the lack of actual asset worth and a collection of high-profile scams” as main contributors to the downturn.
By November 2025, whole meme-coin market capitalization had plunged to about $47.2 billion, a roughly 70% drop from its $150.6 billion zenith. CoinGecko knowledge additionally verify that it reached its lowest stage of 2025 in late November, round $39.4 billion.
Oversupply, fatigue and site visitors collapse
The crash was not pushed solely by political scandals. Excessive token oversupply additionally performed a decisive position. Furthermore, because the novelty pale, dealer enthusiasm waned, leaving many new points with little liquidity or neighborhood help.
Speculative mania created a glut of meme belongings: over 13 million new meme cash have been issued in 2025 alone, based on sector estimates. Most had no clear use case, income mannequin or long-term roadmap, underscoring a mounting memecoin provide glut problem.
Investor fatigue quickly adopted. As soon as the preliminary euphoria handed, merchants rotated into different narratives, from DeFi to NFTs and AI-related tokens. CoinGecko studies that devoted memecoin internet site visitors fell by roughly 81.6% in 2025, mirroring the collapse in valuations and illustrating a pointy deterioration in retail crypto investor sentiment.
These parts mixed to provide a pronounced memecoin market cap decline. Provide saved rising, however incremental demand dried up. Because of this, even beforehand standard tokens struggled to carry prior ranges, and the sector’s threat profile intensified.
Bitcoin resilience as meme belongings decouple
All through the meme stoop, Bitcoin has proven exceptional resilience. As of late November 2025, Bitcoin value hovered round $82,778 regardless of a quick pullback. By mid-December, it was buying and selling nearer to $90,000, underlining how blue-chip crypto has held agency through the shakeout.
In different phrases, bitcoin has remained on comparatively strong footing regardless of a broader risk-off tone in smaller altcoins. Nonetheless, the decoupling between main meme tokens and the highest cryptocurrency has turn out to be more and more evident, suggesting a structural shift in how traders deal with these totally different segments.
Dogecoin, the unique meme token, is down about 57% year-to-date, whereas Shiba Inu has fallen roughly 61%. Neither transfer tracks bitcoin’s efficiency, indicating that the dogecoin shiba inu pair now behaves extra like leveraged hypothesis than proxies for the broader market.
The sector’s focus has additionally advanced. CoinGecko knowledge present DOGE nonetheless represents roughly 47.3% of all the meme universe, down from dominating almost all of it in 2021 however up in relative phrases as many rivals misplaced floor. That stated, this dominance has not translated into stronger absolute efficiency.
In sensible phrases, meme belongings now commerce as high-volatility facet bets, whereas bitcoin features as the first market bellwether. This divergence is seen throughout memecoin market traits, on-chain flows and by-product positioning, the place merchants more and more segregate their threat allocations.
Is one other meme season coming?
Wanting forward, skepticism dominates within the absence of a contemporary catalyst. Some business insiders, nevertheless, insist that the meme cycle isn’t over and that attention-driven belongings will proceed to resurface in future bull phases.
MoonPay President Keith Grossman not too long ago pushed again in opposition to the concept that the “meme coin period is over,” calling that narrative “lazy and unsuitable.” He argued that meme tokens have uniquely “tokenized consideration” on blockchains, creating a brand new strategy to commerce tradition and sentiment.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao went additional, teasing the prospect of a renewed “humorous cash season” in late 2025. Nonetheless, these feedback haven’t but translated into a transparent memecoin market cap surge, and secondary liquidity stays skinny throughout many tickers.
{Most professional} analysts now deal with meme tokens as speculative curiosities slightly than core portfolio holdings. As soon as the bullish craze peaked, few may determine robust fundamentals able to justifying prior valuations or driving a sustained restoration in memecoin whole market cap.
With bitcoin stronger and the broader crypto complicated focusing extra on DeFi, NFTs and AI narratives, retail traders seem to have moved on. Furthermore, the sector’s historical past of pump and dump tokens has left many newcomers cautious of chasing short-lived traits.
For now, the lesson is that meme belongings stay extremely event-driven. With out a compelling and sustained story, they’ve burned out: after peaking at $150 billion, the mixed memecoin market cap now sits underneath $40 billion, leaving a stark reminder of how shortly sentiment can reverse.
In abstract, the memecoin sector’s fast rise and steep fall spotlight the hazards of hype-driven hypothesis. Whereas future cycles might convey new waves of experimentation, the newest crash underscores the necessity for warning, due diligence and a transparent distinction between market leisure and long-term funding.
