December was a wild ride for memecoins, and not in a good way. The sector peaked at $137 billion but then took a nosedive, losing over $40 billion by the end of the month.
A rollercoaster
To break it down, CoinMarketCap reported that on December 1, the total market cap for memecoins was $120.14 billion, but by December 9, it shot up to that high of $137.06 billion, only to plummet to $92.67 billion by December 23.
That’s a less nice 32.38% drop in just a few weeks! As of now, the market cap sits at around $98 billion, which is still 18% lower than where it started the month.
Pepe leads the charge
One of the biggest players in the memecoin game is Pepe, which mirrors the broader trends of the market.
On December 9, Pepe reached a price of $0.000026, but by December 20, it had dropped to $0.000017.
The excitement peaked when Binance.US listed Pepe on December 4, sparking a jump that saw its market cap skyrocket from about $591 million at the start of 2024 to over $11 billion shortly after its listing, with 18x growth.
Jackpot?
But let’s not forget about those savvy traders who made bank off Pepe this year. One trader turned a mere $3,000 investment into $46 million after just one month!
Another lucky investor who spent just $27 on Pepe tokens saw their dormant holdings balloon to about $52 million after over 600 days of inactivity. That’s what we call a serious return on investment.
With the memecoin market experiencing such wild swings and increasing scrutiny from regulators, traders are left wondering what’s next.
Will these tokens bounce back or continue their downward spiral? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure, memecoins are here to stay.
