Unlikely hero
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 19th February 2025.
The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.
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What’s up
Litecoin Rally Few Saw Coming Keeps Going
Go ahead and hang back, Bitcoin. Litecoin's got this rally thing covered.
As of early Wednesday, the now 15th-largest crypto had gained 10% in 24 hours to reach close to $140. LTC has surged 30% in the past two weeks. BTC fell 1.5% over that same time period, stuck in low gear on a mountainside switchback road near $96K.
Odds are steepening that a spot LTC ETF will at some point win approval, adding to bullish sentiment and driving increased volume, said CryptoPotato.
“While the rest of the market is in the abyss," said Dom, an analyst/pundit on X, "LTC looks ready to break its three-month range.”
Abysmal isn't how we'd describe the state of play right now but there are a few token categories (e.g. Solana memes) under duress.
And while several large-cap assets (e.g. SOL) are red-faced on the week, there are select altcoin stalwarts gaining traction, including XRP, OM and APT. The latter two each popped by 9% since this time last week. OM has gained 28% in that time period.
What's down
Solana Losing Steam Fast And Slow
Not all, but some Solana-based memecoins are reeling. For example, the market cap for Bonk (BONK) has been cut in half over the past month while Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and ai16z (AI16Z) each plunged by more than 30% in the past week.
And then there is Libra (LIBRA), which this past weekend crashed by 80% after hitting a high of 75 cents. LIBRA represents one of the industry's highest-profile alleged rug-pulls as it involved a social media endorsement from Argentina’s President, Javier Milei, followed by brazenly blatant insider dumping, numerous on-chain sleuths have found.
As for Solana's native SOL, it shed 12% in the past week. Don't entirely blame the decline on memes, though. Solana's ecosystem-wide DEX volumes as of yesterday had declined by 91% in 30 days, according to Cointelegraph.
Demand for SOL, as Cointelegraph explains, is in large part spurred by use of the network's decentralized application (dApps), which have seen waning activity even before the Libra fiasco.
What's next
Memecoin Craze Strives For Fresh Air
An improbable, explosive memecoin cycle appears to be at a sharp bend in the river. The coming days will tell whether retail participants have had their fill of raging rapids.
CoinDesk, which has been digging into alleged unscrupulousness surrounding the Libra token incident, now describes the memecoin sector as "synonymous with 'pump and dump' schemes."
"Overall, this entire [Libra] story is a real setback for the crypto space," said Chris Chung, founder of Solana-based swap platform Titan.
But is it, really?
U.S. President Donald Trump's TRUMP memecoin launch on the eve of his inauguration was hailed by many chiefs in the crypto space as a terrible look, even for a crypto-loving commander. Because, sure enough, the TRUMP token scorched up and down the charts, leaving some early movers flush with profits and others, including many first-time dabblers, saddled with losses.
A First-Lady-themed MELANIA memecoin came hot on TRUMP's heels, and it too would quickly soar on the wings of international notoriety. But MELANIA ultimately lost 90% of its value. Some of the most hellacious coaster-rolling occurred within mere minutes.
MELANIA's all-time low of $1.21 was reached less than 24 hours ago. The 318th-largest token has since increased by 2%. Meanwhile, TRUMP, 44th-largest coin, is green today. It's up 10% in the past week.
Even as institutional investors are betting big on exchange-traded vehicles tied to BTC and ETH, bringing a sense of stability to the standard-bearing assets, the memecoin sector has stuck out as "the ugly duckling of the crypto space," CoinDesk said.
Against this backdrop, a multitude of meme tokens are still being born and are changing hands among those who would like to think they still have a chance to bottle lightning.
Consider this latest POTUS plot twist: the leader of the free world is airdropping three TRUMP tokens to people who have (prior to Feb. 15) purchased Trump-branded stuff, an inventory which includes watches, fragrances, sneakers and NFTs.
The TRUMP token, as of today, trades at about $17, putting each individual recipient's haul as being worth about $51, or around the cost of a Trump bible. Users have until March 1 to claim their tokens (Fortune).
