Over the past 3 months, the meme coin market has experienced a sharp decline, with the total market capitalization decreasing by 56.8%.
This rapid decline raises questions about whether the era of explosive growth for these digital assets has come to an end.
Meme coin market sees significant downturn
Meme coins enjoyed tremendous popularity in 2024. During that year, the total market capitalization surged by 500%, and the meme coin narrative dominated the cryptocurrency space.
According to a report by CoinGecko, meme coins were the most popular cryptocurrency trend in 2024, accounting for a substantial 14.3% of the total narrative interest, up from 8.3% in 2023.
However, recent developments present a contrasting narrative.
"The market capitalization of meme coins has declined significantly since December. This is the weakest narrative, and not worth investing in," an analyst wrote on X.
According to the latest data as of March 5th, the total meme coin market capitalization has plummeted to $54 billion, a 56.8% decrease from the peak of $125 billion on December 5th, 2024.
Trading volume has also taken a hit, declining by 26.2% in the past month alone, raising concerns about the "meme coin supercycle".
"Is this the end of the meme coin supercycle?" crypto analyst The Crypto Lark asked.
The meme coin supercycle refers to the prolonged period of rapid growth and speculation in meme-based cryptocurrencies. However, with the overall metrics declining, the community now faces the fear that the high level of interest may disappear forever.
Dogecoin (DOGE) accounts for nearly half of the total meme coin market capitalization and has declined by 21.7% in the past month. The downtrend is not limited to DOGE.
The second-largest meme coin, Shiba Inu (SHIB), has also experienced significant declines, dropping 10.6% in the past month. Similar trends have been observed across the top 10 meme coins.
The decline is not just affecting individual tokens but appears to be accompanied by growing skepticism towards meme coins as a whole. Elon Musk, one of the most vocal supporters of DOGE, for example, recently compared meme coins to "a casino" and warned against investing life savings into them. Meanwhile, Bitwise's CIO Matt Hougan has stated that this is "the end of the meme coin boom".
Google Trends data further supports this declining interest, with search volume for "meme coin" plummeting from a peak of 100 in mid-January to just 8 last week, suggesting a rapid waning of public enthusiasm.
The impact of this decline is particularly felt by platforms that thrived during the meme coin frenzy.
Pump.fun, a popular meme coin launchpad, has seen its trading volume plummet from $3.3 billion in January 2025 to $814 million, a staggering 75.3% drop.
Additionally, the total number of tokens created on Pump.fun has been steadily declining since the end of January, and daily revenues have also dropped significantly.
