PEPE leads early-year memecoin surge, says The Block

Amid a broader recovery in the altcoin market on Jan. 2, the memecoin sector posted the highest gains, led by PEPE, according to an analysis by The Block. The media outlet noted that PEPE surged more than 32% on the day, spearheading the rally. It was followed by other tokens such as the Solana-based memecoin POPCAT. Other memecoins including Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Bonk (BONK), Floki (FLOKI), and dogwifhat (WIF) also showed short-term strength. In addition to memecoins, the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and newly launched tokens also saw significant gains. In response to the trend, VanEck analyst Matt Sigel commented that assets with poor year-end performance tend to experience stronger rebounds in January on average. Jake Kenis, an analyst at Nansen, added that memecoins were the hardest-hit sector following the major crypto liquidation event on Oct. 10. He suggested that the early-year capital flow into memecoins indicates traders are building positions for an upward move after months of sideways trading. However, Kenis cautioned that this movement needs to be confirmed on longer-term charts to be considered a definitive trend.