While most tokens surged after news of Trump's return to the White House, meme coins struggled to keep up, raising further debates about their lack of long-term value. Given the performance of other altcoins, this argument may indeed have some merit.
However, the change may not be too late - meme coins have previously proven their resilience, thriving on community support and hype. The real question now is: can the same hype drive a shift in momentum, or are we witnessing the beginning of meme coins ultimately losing their appeal?
The largest memecoin may be losing its greatest asset.
To truly understand the volatility of these tokens, Dogecoin [DOGE] is a perfect example. While many still associate DOGE with high-profile endorsements, it may be losing its most powerful asset—the support it once had.
Even if government departments name this dog coin, how does it affect the price? It has never really taken off. In fact, the $1 price target seems increasingly out of reach.
Will this become a turning point for DOGE? Will the community move beyond the hype and develop into a more meaningful group—a group with a long-term vision?
Currently, the answer seems to be a definite 'no'. A quick glance at its price chart makes it clear—it remains highly speculative. A single red candle can wipe out the gains from a series of green candles.
As the largest memecoin, its market capitalization is larger than the total market capitalization of other meme tokens, making it hard to see memecoins surpassing altcoins in the short term.
These currencies are easy targets for market manipulation.
AMBCrypto recently revealed how major players use massive bets to keep DOGE trapped in a consolidation phase and employ classic manipulation strategies to prevent any breakouts.
This brings us to a key point: like DOGE, memecoins heavily rely on community support to thrive—but ironically, this dependence leads to their price's extreme volatility.
Take PEPE as an example, with a market cap of $9 billion, nearly 'half' of the tokens are controlled by whale wallets, accounting for about 190 trillion tokens. These whales have the power to manipulate the market at will, steering it in a direction that benefits them.
Even more shocking is the scale of their trading—whether buying or selling—often reaching tens of billions or even trillions of dollars.
This textbook manipulation strategy, buying at a discount and selling at a high price, has plunged memecoins into a turbulent cycle, leaving the market in a state of continuous uncertainty, with retail investors feeling anxious.
Given all this, predicting that these currencies will reach new highs next year may be a bit wishful.
The reasons are clear: besides losing its appeal as an 'actual use case' asset, memecoins are struggling in multiple ways.
Big players manipulate the market, stifling its true potential, while they fail to develop into a true store of value, opening the door for altcoins to dominate.