The largest meme coins in the cryptocurrency market, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and PepeCoin (PEPE), have faced a downturn in recent days as new competitors emerge in the sector. The negative market sentiment, driven by bearish moves in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), has further compounded the challenges faced by these meme coins, given their high correlation to the overall market.
PEPE coin suffers losses amid rising competition
PEPE has experienced the most significant losses among the top three meme coins, with a decline of 14.9% over the past week and 3.76% in the last 24 hours. Currently trading at $0.00000144, PEPE’s market capitalization stands at $619 million.
However, on a 30-day scale, PEPE has recorded a notable gain of 52.5%, fueled by impressive triple-digit growth during June’s meme coin rally. Despite this positive trend, the recent emergence of new meme coin projects has captured the market’s attention and diverted trader focus away from PEPE.
The launch of copycat projects like PEPE 2.0 and Shib 2.0 has created a buzz in the market. PEPE 2.0 quickly amassed a market capitalization of over $50 million within a few days of its launch, as reported by CoinGecko.
The volume of PEPE 2.0 has experienced an exceptional growth of 1,261% since its initial daily recording. This significant increase gives a glimpse of the remarkable progress it has made in a short period of time. However, due to the fact that it is still a new coin, its marketcap data is not yet accessible. Its earliest recorded price and volume data on Coinmarketcap date as far back as June 28.
In addition, Wall Street Memes, a meme coin project developed by the team behind the popular Wall St Bulls NFT collection, has raised over $13 million in less than a week. The entry of these new competitors has likely contributed to the declining trading volumes of existing meme coins, which have fallen below the levels seen during the June pump.
Bearish moves in BTC and ETH amplify selling pressure
The recent bearish moves in Bitcoin and Ethereum have added to the selling pressure faced by meme coins. BTC briefly lost support at $30,000 on Friday, ending the week at $30,165. Similarly, ETH slipped below $1,900, failing to maintain the positive momentum observed in June, and was last trading at $1,861.
The negative price action in BTC and ETH can be attributed, in part, to expectations of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. These expectations have prompted investors to reevaluate their risk appetite, leading to selling pressure across various cryptocurrency markets, including meme coins. Given the high correlation between meme coins and the broader crypto market, the downturn in BTC and ETH has further influenced the sentiment surrounding meme coins.
As meme coins face increased competition and the impact of market-wide trends, investors and traders are closely monitoring the price movements and trading volumes of these digital assets. At press time, BTC is trading at $30,347 and up by 0.21% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, ETH is trading at $1,872, experiencing an increase of 0.40% in the last 24 hours.
