Shiba Inu, Pepe, and Dogwifhat led the top weekly market gainers as the total meme coin market cap rose 25%, surpassing $55 billion.
Leading the weekly gainers, Shiba Inu (SHIB) surged 39% to $0.00001968 as the demand for meme coins helped it break past a key resistance level at $0.00001940. Its market cap rose from $8.53 billion to $11.63 billion within the week.
Ethereum-based Pepe (PEPE) followed next on the list as it rose 36.5% over the past week, trading at $0.00001112 at press time. The meme coin’s market cap rose to $4.67 billion at press time, reaching highs last seen at the beginning of August.
Dogwifhat (WIF), which resides on Solana, also joined the top gainers with a 35.4% gain, trading at $2.30 when writing, with its market cap flying past the $2 billion mark.
You might also like: Here’s why Shiba Inu price is soaring
Even Dogecoin (DOGE), the first and most liquid meme coin with a market cap of $18 billion, joined the rally. Over the past seven days, Dogecoin was up more than 16%.
The social sentiment surrounding these tokens remained overwhelmingly bullish, as reflected on CoinMarketCap.
Market reactions
On X.com, market observers anticipate the start of a meme coin season as Bitcoin’s market dominance waned.
Pseudonymous trader Bluntz observed that multiple meme coins are gaining strong upward momentum, signaling what he describes as the start of a “memecoin supercycle” and advising his followers not to “sell too early.”
memecoin supercycle is real, the problem was most people's timing was just way off.choose your fighters, get into position and chill, don't sell too early.
— Bluntz (@Bluntz_Capital) September 27, 2024
BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes also chimed in on the hype, claiming, “It’s time for a meme coin breakout.”
In subsequent posts, he actively engaged with the community, asking for recommendations and shilling several meme coins as he sought to build his portfolio for the anticipated “UPtober” rally.
Fam I need some help. It’s about to be UPtober and I need a PORTFOLIO of memecoins. I got $MOTHER, $MOG, $PEPE. Shill me your best memecoin.
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) September 28, 2024
Lookonchain data reveals Hayes’ recent withdrawal of 24.39 billion Pepe (PEPE), valued at $252,680, from Binance. See below.
Arthur Hayes(@CryptoHayes) is calling for #MEMEcoins $MOTHER, $MOG and $PEPE!On-chain data shows that he withdrew 24.39B $PEPE($252.68K) from #Binance 20 minutes ago.Address:0x6cd66dbdfe289ab83d7311b668ada83a12447e21 pic.twitter.com/MC9ZPF2Eg4
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 27, 2024
Not all market analysts share this optimistic outlook. A contrasting perspective comes from analyst Saint Pump, who warns of potential pitfalls within the meme coin craze.
Analyst Saint Pump offered a blunt warning, saying the “endless flood” of meme coins could drain liquidity from other sectors as traders chase “the new cute dog of the month.”
New entrants might struggle to match the gains of early investors, he cautioned.
In his words, trading meme coins is like “playing slots,” where “the house always wins.”
This won't be a popular take but be careful what you wish for.I think the proliferation of meme coins will negatively impact the other sectors' future returns, as new entrants pull liquidity away to chase the new cute dog of the month shilled by your favorite KOLs in hope of…
— Saint Pump (@Saint_Pump) September 26, 2024
Read more: Solana meme coin Moo Deng soars over 40% in 24-hour trading
