Dogecoin and pepe led a pointy meme coin bounce on Friday, with merchants leaning into “meme season” speak as 2026 will get underway.
Dogecoin was up about 11% over 24 hours, whereas pepe rose roughly 17% on the day after a stronger intraday push.
Crypto’s meme basket has additionally been heating up extra broadly. CoinGecko’s GMCI Meme Index class confirmed a market worth of roughly $33.8 billion with about $5.9 billion in 24 hour buying and selling quantity, an indication that the transfer isn’t just a single token story.
In the meantime, the “canine themed” basket flashing inexperienced throughout the board. Following dogecoin, Shiba Inu was up 8% and Solana’s Bonk added practically 11%, whereas Floki climbed near 10%.
The transfer was not restricted to the majors and smaller caps moved quicker, with Mog Coin up about 14% on the day and roughly 37% over seven days, whereas Popcat gained practically 9% and is up greater than 17% on the week.
Merchants on X pointed to PEPE’s sharp breakout, with some charts suggesting momentum merchants are chasing a well-known setup the place speculative flows spill from giant caps into meme cash as soon as liquidity returns.
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Why are memes popping?
Bitcoin has been vary certain, liquidity continues to be uneven after the vacations, and merchants are searching for the best beta place to specific danger on views with out ready for a clear macro catalyst.
Memes have a tendency to learn in that setting as a result of they transfer quick, have deep derivatives markets on main venues, and appeal to momentum flows that don’t want a elementary narrative.
That doesn’t mechanically imply the market has entered a sustained meme cycle.
A number of these bursts are self reinforcing within the quick run, however fragile. When positioning will get crowded, spot demand thins, or bitcoin slips, meme cash can unwind shortly as a result of the identical leverage that accelerates the upside can power sharp draw back de danger strikes.
One approach to body it’s that memes are performing like a temperature test on speculative urge for food.
A “meme season index” model method tracks what number of giant meme tokens are outperforming bitcoin over a set window. If that quantity retains rising, it normally means merchants are rotating into increased danger corners of the market quite than simply shopping for giant caps.
For now, the value motion says merchants are keen to take selective danger. The subsequent sign might be whether or not the transfer spreads past a handful of liquid meme names, or fades as shortly because it began.
