Meme coins surge as retail traders dive back into the crypto market

Editor’s Note: With so much market volatility, stay tuned for daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our quick summary of today’s must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here!

(Kitco News) – Several popular meme coins began to show signs of life this past weekend as the cryptocurrency ecosystem begins to grow increasingly optimistic that the end of crypto winter is in sight.

Dogecoin (DOGE), the first meme coin, delighted crypto fans with a 22% rally from a low of $0.696 on Friday to an intraday high of $0.848 on Sunday, before pulling back to its current value of $0.078.

DOGE/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

This marks the highest price that DOGE has reached since the crypto market collapsed in early June and is a promising sign for crypto followers who have experienced significant losses so far in 2022.

Dogecoin was one of the early movers in the 2021 bull run and helped lead the crypto market charts as popular influencers like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban promoted the token to their followers. Followers are now hoping that this latest rally of the top meme coin will help spark a revival in the crypto market that could eventually lead to new highs.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) is another 2021 headline meme coin that has woken up in recent days, rising 43% from a low of $0.00001256 on Saturday to a high of $0.000018 on Sunday, as its 24-hour trading volume rose from $369 million to $4.34 billion.

SHIB/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The move higher for SHIB follows its addition to the list of cryptos supported by Binance payment cards issued in Europe, potentially exposing the token to new users in the growing European crypto scene.

Other notable meme coin gainers in the past week include a 24% increase for Baby Doge Coin, a 16% gain for Hoge Finance, and a 9% increase for Dogelon Mars.

Retailers are re-engaging

According to a Monday message to clients from Hayden Hughes, CEO of social trading platform Alpha Impact, “Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have both broken out over the weekend, clear evidence that the retail investor is back.”

While the resurgence of demand from retail traders is a positive sign that sentiment in the crypto market is improving, Hughes suggested that further verification is needed from institutional investors who have, so far, remained on the sidelines of the meme coin rally.

“Alpha Impact traders have been on the sidelines waiting to see if this trend is picked up by institutional investors who tend to trade during the week,” Hughes said.

The rally in meme coins comes at a time when sentiment across the cryptocurrency market has risen due to a number of factors both within and outside of crypto.

Last week’s lower-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) print has led some to speculate that inflation may have peaked, which some hope will allow the Federal Reserve to ease up on raising interest rates.

The upcoming Ethereum merger, expected to take place on September 15, has also helped pull the entire market out of the depths of crypto winter as the long-awaited multi-year upgrade to proof-of-stake looks set to finally become a reality.