In this cycle, many old players and seasoned investors feel that the style of the bull market in 2024 is vastly different and not as easy as in 2021. It's difficult due to the lack of original narrative creation, the absence of new investors entering the market, the entry of high FDV projects for harvesting, and the long-awaited mass adoption still having no signs...
However, as Dickens said, 'It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.' The riddle of wealth often has its answer written on the face of the riddle.
Trump's Bull Market
At the moment Bitcoin passed through the ETF, crypto assets have seemingly become a market dominated by the West. In this round, almost all significant positive news and narrative innovations have come from Western capital, whether it's SocialFi, DePIN, or Restaking. In this 'most difficult bull market in history', one only needs to follow Trump's lead and the Western concepts to switch to Easy mode.
Trump-friendly meme
BTC
After Trump took office, BTC took the lead. Given the grandeur of 2021 still fresh in memory, many veteran players still hope to replicate the previous alt season, while new players are immersed in the fantasy of 'going all in on altcoins and lying down to get rich'. However, in this round of bull market, just holding BTC has already outperformed a portfolio full of altcoins.
Since the beginning of the year, BTC has surged from $40,000 to around $98,000, achieving a return of over 200%. During the same period, the only things that outperformed BTC were the meme sector and some mainstream public chain tokens (such as SOL and SUI), while most altcoins have not shown much difference in price compared to the beginning of the year.
Before the election, Trump has been publicly promoting BTC. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference held in Nashville, Trump appeared and gave a nearly one-hour speech, claiming he would 'fire the SEC chairman' and 'never sell your Bitcoin'. He also announced plans to establish a national strategic reserve for Bitcoin and ensure that the U.S. becomes the world's crypto center and Bitcoin superpower. Trump's various favorable policies and positive commitments towards Bitcoin after his election are rare in global capital markets. With Trump's support, BTC forcefully broke through the long-sustained pressure point at the $70,000 mark and achieved a 40% increase in a short period.
In addition to ETFs, national strategic reserves and Bitcoin superpower have become the biggest narrative for BTC.
DOGE
Dogecoin, as the ancestor of meme coins, has a deep connection with Musk and Trump. In April 2019, Musk stated on Twitter that Dogecoin was his favorite cryptocurrency and considered it 'cool'. In the May 2021 (Saturday Night Live) show, Musk referred to himself as the 'Dogefather' and called Dogecoin 'the people's cryptocurrency'. Over time, Musk has become deeply tied to Dogecoin, even becoming the public's recognized spokesperson for Dogecoin. To date, DOGE has experienced four cycles of bull and bear markets but still firmly holds a position in the top ten of crypto market capitalization.
Most people adhere to the belief that 'market capitalization is too large to move' and 'buy new instead of old', and have not paid attention to DOGE. However, after starting, DOGE directly embarked on an independent trend, astonishing everyone with its 'rise in price'. It quadrupled in the past year, doubling in the past month, heading straight for $1 per coin.
PEPE
The name Pepe comes from the character Pepe the Frog created by American cartoonist Matt Furie, which first appeared in his work (Boy's Club). The character won affection with its cute image and funny expressions and gained a certain level of attention on the internet. Pepe the Frog first appeared in a comic in 2005 and later became a well-known meme in internet culture. Pepe Coin was issued on Ethereum in April 2023, and after nearly a year of washing, it began to surge in February this year. Since then, it has maintained a market value fluctuating in the tens of billions of dollars.
Pepe, as a popular meme in the West, launched on Robinhood and Coinbase after a six-month silence. Robinhood, as the largest trading platform for U.S. stocks, previously only had DOGE and SHIB as its memecoins. The launch of PEPE indicates the importance of PEPE in the U.S. market. This new development in the American market has led to a 50% surge in PEPE's market value, momentarily breaking the $6 billion mark.
WIF
In late December 2019, images of various logos and graphics added to beanies became popular as profile pictures among esports organizations and celebrities on Twitter. WIF, short for dogwifhat, was inspired by the meme ancestor 'DOGE' and also features the viral beanie characteristic.
WIF's route is similar to PEPE, and can be said to be PEPE's junior. On November 14, Coinbase listed dogwifhat (WIF), which surged over 30% on the day, approaching its previous high. In addition to having already launched on Coinbase, on November 25, Robinhood also listed WIF, making it the first Solana memecoin listed on Robinhood.
PNUT
PNUT is the most shouted animal meme by Musk in this cycle besides DOGE.
The squirrel image of PNUT comes from a squirrel named 'Peanut' adopted by an engineer named Mark seven years ago. Mark often shared interaction videos with Peanut on Instagram and gradually gained hundreds of thousands of followers. However, some nearby residents complained to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) about Peanut, claiming it carried infectious diseases. Strangely, the DEC entered Mark Longo's home without a search warrant and took Peanut away. Thus, Mark Longo initiated a petition on social media, which was signed by tens of thousands of fans. Unfortunately, Peanut was ultimately euthanized by the DEC.
After the euthanasia of Peanut, Dogecoin condemned the Democrats, and Musk also expressed condolences for Pnut, claiming that Trump's presidency would save Peanut. The animal image represented by Peanut is not just a meme, but begins to accumulate a 'Trump' political color buff.
Due to the previous rapid surge of PNUT, many retail investors began 'riding the wave', leading to a nine-day washout. PNUT has stabilized at a small level today and shows signs of a pullback.
$PUNT is the biggest alpha of this round! Why? What advantages does it have over other hot meme coins? The explanation provided in the text is precisely why PNUT has been steadily above $1 billion, while most memecoins cannot break the $1 billion hard cap.
In addition to these memes, there are also DOGE (a new government department established by Musk after Trump took office), and Banana (the logo on Musk's rocket) that are closely related to Musk.
Trump-friendly companies
People often rely on historical experiences from past bull markets, usually following the 'pyramid cup' logic: BTC leads, surplus funds flow to ETH and other mainstream coins, and then overflow into lower market cap altcoins, ushering in the 'altcoin season'. In this round, under the 'BTC Bull Market' in the U.S., the market has belatedly realized that there seems to be no altcoin season. 'BTC has been leading all along, and funds have never overflowed.'
However, the altcoin season has not disappeared; it has just changed in form: the funds following BTC's lead have overflowed into U.S. stock targets related to BTC concepts.
COIN
COIN is the stock of Coinbase, which achieved an 800% increase this year. Before the election, Coinbase's stock price continued to rise due to the crypto bull market. Although COIN experienced a pullback mid-year, Coinbase's stock price rose 31% on November 6, 2024, due to the election results, increasing from $193.96 to $254.31. Investing in COIN is equivalent to investing in the beta of 'American crypto assets', and any positive news regarding crypto assets is almost absorbed by COIN's stock price.
Apart from COIN, the other U.S. stock targets in the crypto series also have a strong backing feeling.
MSTR
MicroStrategy itself is a company that makes business intelligence software, but in 2020, it started a strategy of 'issuing bonds to buy Bitcoin'. As of now, MicroStrategy holds 1.2% of the total circulating supply of Bitcoin, making it the publicly listed company with the most Bitcoin in the world. MicroStrategy's stock price skyrocketed by 1000% in a year, far exceeding Bitcoin's returns.
MicroStrategy's strategy of issuing bonds to buy Bitcoin has led many people to worry that MSTR is the next LUNA, but in fact, MicroStrategy's safety is much better than LUNA. Moreover, its recent repayment period is in 2027, which is still a long way off.
In addition to companies like MicroStrategy that rely on Bitcoin, many 'small-cap' companies are also beginning to emulate MicroStrategy's strategy. For example, the fitness equipment company Interactive Strength (TRNR) announced its plan to purchase up to $5 million worth of Bitcoin after its board approved cryptocurrency as a treasury reserve asset.
After the announcement, the company's stock price surged over 80%. Similarly, small-cap companies including LQR House (LQR), Cosmos Health (COSM), Nano Labs (NA), Gaxos (GXAI), Solidion Technology (STI), and Genius Group (GNS) also experienced a brief surge in stock prices after announcing their Bitcoin treasury plans in November.
Western Concept Public Chain
Apart from cryptocurrencies that are strongly related to Trump, the ascension of this Bitcoin president is a significant boon for all crypto projects rooted in the West. Not only will regulation of crypto assets in the U.S. be relaxed, but it will also facilitate the inflow of traditional financial capital into crypto assets. Among the coins listed on Coinbase, the traditional U.S. brokers can first access besides BTC and ETH are ADA, BCH, DOT, XRP, etc. Similarly, when the flood comes, the water will only go where the basin is large.
