"Which CA are you going for today?"
The endless stream of MEME coins has players eagerly digging for potential "large MC memecoins". In some MEME groups, players share the CA (contract address) of the MEME coins they just bought, and the ever-evolving MEME launch platforms have lowered the difficulty of issuing coins. KOLs continue to drive various MEME projects to dominate the market, and PANews has also written an article analyzing the reasons why MEME is currently "crushing" mainstream coins.
Although only a few MEME coins can successfully emerge from the thousands of new MEME launches every day, how can we identify the potential gems among the successful ones? Is the rise of the leading MEME coins a coincidence, and what characteristics are worth noting? To this end, PANews has sorted out the 12 most popular MEME coins with relatively high market capitalization on Ethereum and Solana, as well as their market performance (the selected targets are the highest market cap projects of the same name on each chain, as of October 18).
Over 70% of MEME have become popular this year, with most requiring at least five months of holding to see astonishing returns
According to CoinGecko data, as of October 18, the MEME sector's market capitalization has exceeded $61 billion, setting a new historical high. Among them, 10 MEME coins have squeezed into the Top100 of the crypto market, including not only veteran players like Doge, SHIB, and Pepe, but also newcomers like WIF, BONK, and POPCAT.
The 12 popular MEME coins selected by PANews all appeared after 2023, and the vast majority of them are projects that have become popular this year, accounting for more than 70%. In terms of market size, these projects have a combined market value of over $5.54 billion, accounting for nearly 9.1% of the overall MEME market value, with POPCAT, Neiro, MOG, SPX, and SPX having the largest market scale. This is enough to see the market participation of MEME.
From the time when the tokens of these MEME projects reached their all-time highs, the average time required is 162.7 days. Projects like BITCOIN (HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu), MOG, SPX, and GIGA took relatively longer, almost at least a year or more, indicating that MEME with a certain cycle verification are more easily recognized by the community. MOODENG, GOAT, and Daram all saw a strong surge to their highs in less than a month, with the shortest being just a few days, of course, this is directly related to the current community enthusiasm.
From the changes in the number of holding addresses after the coin price reached a new high, the average increase is 39.3%. Among these MEME coins, APU and MOODENG have growth rates of 135.7% and 119.9% respectively, far ahead of the others. In comparison, the growth rates of projects like BITCOIN, POPCAT, and Neiro are not obvious, at only 5.3%, 3.2%, and 1.5% respectively, which may be closely related to factors such as listing on mainstream exchanges, accumulating a sufficient user base in the early stage, and the timing of price increases.
Furthermore, these MEME have essentially brought astonishing returns. According to the statistics, the average maximum return rate of the 12 MEME exceeds 37,000 times. After excluding the extreme value of GIGA's 245,000 times, the average maximum increase of the other MEME coins is 18,000 times, among which BITCOIN, SPX, MOODENG, and GOAT are more eye-catching, while Daram and POPCAT are relatively lagging. Of course, these return rates are based on backtesting of market cap data, and players who can eat all the gains basically do not exist, but there are still some players who have obtained gains of thousands or even tens of thousands of times.
Most have experienced significant corrections, with average holding value reaching tens of thousands of dollars
When measuring the risk control ability of coin prices, the maximum drawdown rate is undoubtedly one of the commonly used indicators, and it is also a test of the psychological endurance of holders. From the data, excluding GOAT and Daram, which have just become popular and are still in an upward channel, the other MEME coins have experienced varying degrees of corrections from their historical highs, with an average maximum drawdown rate of about 49.1%. Among them, MICHI, APU, MOG, and MOODENG have the largest declines, at 87.7%, 87.5%, 71.1%, and 65.4% respectively, meaning that their holders will face the risk of significant losses if they bought in at the highs. In comparison, GIGA, FWOG, POPCAT, and Neiro have maximum drawdown rates far below the average.
Furthermore, in terms of the number of days required to recover the drawdown, these projects need an average of about 23.9 days. Among them, the aforementioned MICHI, APU, MOG, and MOODENG, which had the highest drawdown rates, also took the longest to recover, with some even taking hundreds of days, while GIGA, BITCOIN, FWOG, POPCAT, SPX, and Neiro only took single-digit days.
Additionally, looking at the holding value of these 12 projects, excluding the top 10 holding addresses, the current average holding value is close to $9,837.6 (calculated based on the coin price on October 18). Among them, SPX, MOG, POPCAT, Neiro, and BITCOIN have the highest holding values, at $26,560, $17,504, $16,337, $15,120, and $11,297 respectively, while Daram, GIGA, GOAT, and MOODENG are below the average, all under $5,000. If we look at the proportion of holding value and maximum increase multiples, POPCAT, Daram, FWOG, and Neiro holders have relatively higher investment costs, while GOAT, MOODENG, and GIGA are relatively lower.
Analyzing the multiple logics behind the rise of MEME
From a simple internet meme to a cultural narrative worth billions of dollars, the success of the above MEME projects can bring the following insights:
Withstand the test of time and establish a strong community consensus
Time is always an important tool for testing value, and projects that have gone through longer cycles are often more recognized by the market. Take BITCOIN (HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu) as an example, this is an abstract MEME that combines elements of Harry Potter, Obama, and Sonic, which gained attention in 2023 due to its surge, and then its price experienced ups and downs for nearly a year until it started to rise continuously this year. During this period, the number of BITCOIN holders also continued to increase, with a nearly 88.2% increase in one year. SPX (SPX6900) is also a MEME launched in 2023, with a story of an anime girl surpassing the market value of the S&P 500. From the price trend, SPX has also experienced a long period of sluggishness until this September, and according to the on-chain analyst Ai Aunt, the Dev and its associated addresses have not interacted with the project for a long time, and SPX has been completely handed over to the community.
Take POPCAT as another example, this MEME has a market value of over $1.3 billion without even being listed on major exchanges, thanks to a strong community. Although POPCAT's gains are not as high as other MEME, it has more than 77,000 holding addresses, which is the most among the projects mentioned.
Leverage the wealth effect to enhance attractiveness
For many MEME players, the continuous decline of value coins has made them no longer "bought", and the MEME field has become one of the means for the community to resist the VCs. The higher wealth effect is undoubtedly the simplest and most brutal way for MEME to attract capital and bring in new users, especially for small-scale users who can leverage relatively low costs to unlock huge potential returns.
For example, GIGA (GigaChad) is a token commemorating the legendary figure Ernest Khalimov, and it has reached a maximum increase of 245,000 times since its launch, far exceeding the other MEME projects mentioned earlier. MOG (Mog Coin) is the first emoji culture coin, and it has risen by more than 16,000 times since its launch, and after experiencing a significant correction, it is close to recovering all the losses. At the same time, as the price of MOG has risen, it has also gained more and more supporters, and the number of holding addresses has shown a steady growth trend.
The Celebrity Effect with Self-Propagating Power
MEME can also be understood as the monetization of the attention economy. As a scarce economic resource, the stronger the ability of a project to attract attention, the greater the consensus and the greater the potential for growth. Among them, the celebrity effect often has both attractiveness and propagation power, which has also been an important factor in the past success of MEME.
For example, APU (Apustaja) is one of the widely used frog emoticons on the Internet, similar to the PEPE image, and also has a relatively strong cultural foundation. MOODENG, on the other hand, is backed by the internet celebrity animal Moo Deng, with huge influence and traffic support. According to a survey by crypto KOL Rasmr, MOODENG is currently the most popular MEME coin among the general public on the street. But such MEME are often affected by changes in the underlying supporting value, such as MOODENG, which saw a significant market value decline after the Moo Deng hype cooled down.
Seize User Mindshare with the First-Mover Advantage
"Being first is a shortcut to entering the mind." In many MEME narratives, novel narratives often attract players more easily. For example, GOAT (Goatseus Maximus) is the first MEME coin promoted by an AI agent, and with the reputation of a16z, the MEME quickly became a hit, achieving a market value of over $300 million in just over a week, with a peak increase of over 24,000 times. Daram, on the other hand, combines the nature of BRC20 and MEME, and has opened up the channel for MEME asset issuance, with its market size reaching a maximum of over $50 million in just one week after its launch.
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