Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), and ApeCoin (APE) have recently outperformed Bitcoin. Here’s what the gains of these meme coins mean.
SHIB, PEPE, and APE have been on an upward trend recently
Bitcoin has been going through a phase of stagnation, with its price hovering between $29,000 and $30,000. This has been the case on most other markets as well. However, there have been a few coins that have shown some volatility and diverged from the overall trend. The meme coins, in particular, have stood out.
Among these assets, PEPE has performed the best, with gains of around 22% in the past week.
While PEPE’s weekly gains are undoubtedly impressive, the meme coin has actually experienced significant losses of 17% over the past month.
APE has seen a 12% increase in the past week, and while the coin has not been negative over the past month, its performance for this period has been relatively flat.
In contrast to these two assets with significantly lower market capitalization, Shiba Inu has not only seen impressive gains of 16% in the past week but also a massive increase of 32% in the past month.
The reason behind Shiba Inu’s solid performance is likely the much-anticipated Shibarium upgrade, which is expected to be released later this week.
Does the meme coin rally mean anything for the overall market?
Overall, it is clear that these three meme coins have been building upward momentum simultaneously.
In a new insight post, on-chain analysis company Santiment has revealed that while these assets are rising, their social volumes have not changed significantly.
The “social volume” here is a metric that tracks the level of discussion an asset receives on major social media platforms. When this indicator has a high value, it is a sign that many users are talking about the coin and that there may be FUD or hype surrounding it.
In upward trends, reaching very high values of this metric is generally not a good sign as it indicates increasing FOMO among social media users, which has historically had a contrary effect on the price and led to top formations.
As these metrics for SHIB and the other meme coins have increased, it means that social media users have not paid too much attention to the surges these cryptocurrencies have been experiencing.
In the same post, Santiment also explains that the divergence of meme coins from Bitcoin has historically had significance for the entire sector. “This often suggests that the entire crypto market is moving towards an ‘overheated’ territory,” notes the analytics company.
Santiment also states that if SHIB and other meme coins are experiencing isolated pumps, “it is often associated with greed and/or boredom of the crowd. And these two behaviors often have negative implications for the markets.”
