15/01/2025

What Are Meme Coins An In-Depth Analysis of a Playful Phenomenon

Meme Coins: What They Are, Examples, Pros and Cons

Meme coins represent an intersection of crypto investing and internet culture.

Initially introduced as a humorous experiment, they have unexpectedly evolved into a legitimate financial phenomenon. Meme coins are digital assets tied to memes—viral cultural symbols that are instantly recognizable and resonate with millions of people.

What lies behind this unusual blend of humor and crypto technology? Why have meme coins grown far beyond mere entertainment? Let’s delve into these questions in this article.

Meme Coins: Their History and Most Successful Examples
Investing in Meme Coins: Top Coins and Risks to Be Aware Of
How to Launch Your Own Meme Coin: A Tools Overview
Meme Coins on the Solana Blockchain
Key Features of Trading Meme Coins
FAQ: Understanding the Details
Conclusion: Are Meme Coins Worth Investing In?

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What Are Meme Coins? A Breakdown with Examples

Meme coins represent a phenomenon at the intersection of internet culture and the financial market.

The term can take various forms—memecoin, meme coin, meme-coins—but the concept remains the same: cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes.

Despite their playful appearance, meme coins often have serious potential. Successful projects can achieve market capitalizations worth billions of dollars, and the crypto investing world now recognizes meme coins as a noteworthy trend.

Key Features of Meme Coins

✓ Low intrinsic value. Meme coins generally do not solve user problems or meet specific needs. They lack practical utility, functionality, or backing of any kind.

Their primary value lies in their popularity and the support of their community—or, more accurately, in the hype surrounding them. However, this enthusiasm can fade as quickly as it appears.

✓ Community-driven. Much like internet memes, meme coins rely on virality. Their success is often driven by aggressive social media marketing campaigns, including endorsements from influencers.

✓ Low entry cost. Meme coins are usually priced at fractions of a cent, allowing investors to buy thousands of coins with just a few dollars. This gives a sense of a large-scale investment, especially compared to owning a tiny fraction of Bitcoin.

✓ Imitation. The success of one meme coin often inspires a flood of similar projects. For example, many popular meme coins feature dog-related themes as a nod to Dogecoin, the original and most famous meme-based cryptocurrency.

The First Meme Coin in History

On December 6, 2013, IBM programmer Billy Markus and Adobe’s Jackson Palmer introduced Dogecoin, a playful alternative to Bitcoin. With the iconic Shiba Inu dog from the Doge meme as its logo, Dogecoin quickly gained popularity, evolving from a lighthearted joke into a cryptocurrency market sensation.

December 2013. The value of the meme coin surged by nearly 300%, rising from $0.00026 to $0.00095. However, this was followed by an 80% price crash, driven by actions of large mining pools and security issues, including the hacking of Dogewallet, which resulted in the theft of millions of coins.

In 2021, Dogecoin took center stage once again. In January, its price surged by over 800%, climbing to $0.07. This meteoric rise was driven by the backing of high-profile figures like Elon Musk and celebrities such as Snoop Dogg. By May 2021, Dogecoin’s market capitalization exceeded $85 billion, with Musk even announcing plans to fund a lunar mission using Dogecoin.

The excitement around Dogecoin continued to grow, fueled by events such as Elon Musk temporarily changing Twitter’s logo to the Doge logo in April 2023.

In 2024, following Donald Trump’s election victory, Elon Musk was appointed head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This event acted as a catalyst for another surge in Dogecoin’s price, pushing its market capitalization above $60 billion. As a result, Dogecoin secured the 7th spot in the global cryptocurrency rankings, becoming the only meme coin to break into the top 10.

The Story of the Meme Coin Pepe the Frog

Pepe the Frog, originally introduced in a 2005 comic, became a viral internet meme by 2008. In April 2023, its fame took a new turn with the launch of Pepecoin, a namecoin that skyrocketed to an impressive market capitalization of $10 billion by November.

A screenshot from the ATAS platform highlights a footprint chart in Delta Colored Trades mode, providing an in-depth look at one of Pepecoin’s dramatic price surges.

On November 13, 2024, PEPE’s price surged by roughly 80% in just one day. A wave of buy trades (1) drove the price above the key psychological level of 0.00002. By breaking into the top 20 cryptocurrencies, Pepecoin secured its place as the most successful namecoin not associated with dogs (unlike DOGE, SHIB, BONK, WIF, and FLOKI).

Investing in Meme Coins

The explosive price surges of meme coins naturally spark interest in investing. Responding to this demand, VanEck, a well-known asset management firm, launched the MarketVector’s Meme Coin Index in May 2024. This index tracks the performance of the top six meme coins on the market, making it easier and more transparent for individuals to explore investments in meme coins.

However, the potential for high returns comes hand-in-hand with equally high risks!

Best Meme Coins for Investment

One way to gauge a meme coin’s success is through its market capitalization. CoinMarketCap offers a dedicated “Memecoins” tab, providing real-time updates on the rankings and market dynamics of the leading meme coins, helping investors track their performance and trends.

Around 10 of the best meme coins can be found in the top 100.

On one hand, investing in these top meme coins reduces the risk of ending up with worthless assets.

On the other hand, after a price surge that pushes a meme coin into the top ranks by market cap, its potential for further growth might be limited.

This is why there is a drive to find “hot” new meme coins that have just been launched.

How to Find the Best Meme Сoins in the Early Stages

Finding promising meme coins early is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is a tricky task that requires keeping a close eye on new trends and staying deeply involved in the market.

There is no simple way to find a meme coin that will quickly and surely skyrocket to success. However, here are 3 tips that may help you spot promising meme coins early on:

Actively participate in communities. Subscribe to Telegram channels that focus on new meme coins. If multiple channels start discussing the same new meme coin at the same time, it could be a strong signal to consider buying.
Follow influencers who specialize in meme coins, for example, kookcapitalLLC, blknoiz06, TheMisterFrog, and others. For convenience, set up a new Twitter account, follow them, and the platform will recommend similar influencers. But be cautious: some influencers may promote meme coins in their portfolios, hoping to sell them at a higher price later.
Stay updated on the news: global events often inspire memes, which could lead to the creation of new meme coins linked to these trends.

For instance, in 2024, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) meme coin’s price skyrocketed from $0.25 to $17 during Donald Trump’s election campaign. Politically themed meme coins, known as Politify, are becoming an increasingly popular trend in the crypto world.

How to Invest in Meme Coins

The key rule when buying meme coins: do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. This applies to all types of investments.

Here are some additional tips for investing in meme coins:

✓Research the project. Study its goals, roadmap, website quality, social media activity, and the general sentiment of its followers. Is the team behind the project publicly known? Is the project transparent in its operations?

✓Understand the tokenomics. Pay attention to the coin’s supply dynamics, burning or staking mechanisms. Independent auditors’ reports (if available) can show whether the creators use smart contract features that block funds, making it harder to suddenly withdraw liquidity (and potentially preventing fraud).

You can read more about tokenomics here.

✓Be cautious. Do not put all your funds into one meme coin, use stop losses, and avoid making decisions based on emotion.

Before buying any meme coins, make sure you understand and are comfortable with the risks involved.

Risks of Investing in Meme Coins

Exposure to Inflation

Meme coins typically have an unlimited supply of tokens (unlike Bitcoin, which has a fixed limit of 21 million coins).

For example, SHIB has a total supply of 1 quadrillion tokens, while DOGE has no cap on the number of coins.

High Volatility

When meme coins are at their peak, such as after being listed on an exchange, their price can surge by tens of percent, sparking FOMO (fear of missing out) among investors.

However, the price of a meme coin can begin to drop dramatically with signs of panic when the novelty fades, and the community shifts focus to a newer, trendier meme coin.

High Fraud Risks

The lack of transparency in meme coin projects can lead to complete investment losses.

For instance, the SQUID meme coin gained popularity in 2021 alongside the Netflix series of the same name. However, the development team withdrew the liquidity, causing the coin’s value to collapse. Similar incidents occurred with the BALD meme coin in July 2023, MetaSwap in early 2024, and other meme coins.

Price Collapse Risk

In our article about Dexscreener, we reviewed a platform where you can trade newly created coins. We explained that investing in meme coins is like playing a “game of who’s the bigger fool.” This market situation occurs when the price of an asset rises not due to its real value, but because investors hope to sell it at a higher price to the next buyer.

You can create your own meme coin on Dexscreener in just a few minutes.

How to Create a Meme Coin

Let’s say you have decided to launch your own meme coin.

Plan A: Taking It Seriously

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a meme coin:

Step 1. Idea and concept. What sets your meme coin apart from others?

Step 2. Choose a blockchain. You could create your meme coin on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, or Solana. These are popular options due to their extensive support and well-developed infrastructure.

Step 3. Create a smart contract. Use a template, write it yourself, employ AI tools, or hire a freelancer to code the contract.

Step 4. Test and verify. Make sure the smart contract is secure and works flawlessly before launch.

Step 5. Deploy the smart contract. Launch your meme coin on the blockchain to make it accessible to everyone.

Step 6. Marketing. Promote your meme coin on social media platforms.

Step 7. Sustainability. Maintain your achievements and focus on long-term growth.

These steps outline a simplified process (excluding potential legal, technical, and other nuances) for creating a meme coin. The complexity of the process will depend on the scale of your approach.

Plan B: Quick, Easy, and Affordable

In addition to Dexscreener, there are various platforms available online that make creating your own meme coin a relatively straightforward process. These services often involve nothing more than connecting your wallet and clicking a few buttons.

With these services, you can create a meme coin in a few minutes, with costs as low as a few dollars in cryptocurrency. Many of these platforms also enable you to buy and sell trending meme coins that are currently in the spotlight.

Examples of such platforms:

Pump.fun – a highly popular platform for launching meme coins, which debuted in January 2024. In less than a year, over 355 million meme coins were created on this site.
Sunpump.meme (shown in the screenshot above) – an alternative and a competitor to Pump.fun. For instance, the SUNDOG meme coin created on Sunpump reached a market capitalization of $150 million.

While it is tempting to invest just a few dollars to create your own meme coin, without audience support or a strong follower base, its value is likely to drop to zero rather quickly.

You can find even more examples by simply searching “Memecoin generator” on Google. Most likely, the top results will feature platforms that use the advantages of the Solana network for meme coin creation.

Top Solana Meme Coins

Solana is a blockchain renowned for its low fees and scalability, surpassing Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. These advantages have made launching meme coins on Solana one of the major trends of 2024.

Learn more about what Solana is and how it works here.

According to CoinGecko, the total market capitalization of meme coins created on Solana surpassed $20 billion by the end of 2024. CoinGecko also provides a list of the top meme coins built on the Solana blockchain.

Example. Chillguy is a meme coin launched on Solana in November 2024, which skyrocketed to a $500 million market cap in under a month. Its success was driven by the popularity of the “Just a Chill Guy” meme. However, the project sparked controversy as the artist behind the original artwork protested its commercial use without consent.

Cointelegraph reported that one trader bought around 13 million Chillguy tokens in two transactions right after the launch, spending just over $150. Later, they sold a small part of their position for $35,000 and still hold most of it, which was valued at $6 million at the time of writing.

This example shows the potential returns from investing in top meme coins on Solana or other blockchains. However, such success stories are rare. Meme coins are often driven by hype and speculation, meaning luck can play a big role in achieving similar results.

How to Trade Meme Coins

If you prefer to rely on strategy and a systematic approach rather than luck, active meme coin trading could be the optimal solution.

Unlike meme coins, whose prices are heavily influenced by the shifting moods of online communities, developing a strategy based on trading advantage can lead to long-term success. This strategy can be applied not only to meme coins but also to other assets like stocks and futures.

Modern tools for analysts and professional traders on financial markets, available through the ATAS platform, can help you with this. These tools include:

volume analysis indicators;
cluster charts (footprint) with various settings;
non-standard chart types.

See how these tools can benefit you when systematically speculating on meme coin prices by using the ATAS Market Replay simulator for traders. This module uses historical data to recreate trading conditions.

You can effectively sharpen your trading skills in realistic market conditions without any financial risk. Use footprint and other ATAS tools to improve your trading, whether you are working with DOGE, PEPE, or other meme coins listed on supported cryptocurrency exchanges.

To try the simulator, download the ATAS platform for free, install, and launch it, and then:

Open a chart of a financial instrument (for example DOGE/USDT.
Click on the Market Replay button in the main ATAS menu.
Activate the Replay mode (the icon should turn green).
Adjust settings (date and data type).
Start the playback and observe how buyers and sellers behave. Focus on footprint patterns and volume indicator signals.

ATAS enables you to load tick history for top meme coins (as well as stocks and futures), giving you a comprehensive foundation for spotting patterns in the price and volume interaction.

Example. The chart above shows a bullish action: at the 15:50 candle, the price rises on increasing volume (6) with a concentration of market buy clusters (shown in blue), indicating strong demand. Subsequently, the price returns to this level (7), showing that the bulls are maintaining control. This creates an opportunity to buy a meme coin that is in an uptrend.

Of course, there is no guarantee the price will keep rising, but in this case, the decision to trade is based on more solid reasoning than just buying an unknown “dog” coin and hoping it goes “To The Moon.”

FAQ

What is a meme coin?

A meme coin is a cryptocurrency created based on an internet meme, often without significant technical or economic value, but popular due to hype and widespread community support.

What is the difference between a meme coin and a crypto?

While both cryptocurrencies and meme coins are digital assets created using blockchain technology, there is a significant difference in their purposes and motivations. Meme coins typically have no real-world application and are created as a form of social experiment or entertainment. In contrast, traditional cryptocurrencies are usually developed with a specific functional purpose in mind.

What are the best meme coins on Solana?

The Solana platform is known for its scalability and low fees, so meme coin creators often use it to launch their projects. To find the best meme coins with the highest market capitalization, you can use special services like CoinGecko.

How to find the best new meme coins?

To find the best new meme coins, follow influencers on social media platforms such as YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, and Telegram channels, where fresh projects are actively discussed. Additionally, use blockchain explorers to monitor new meme coins, especially on networks like Solana, to stay updated on recently launched assets.

Conclusion

Meme coins are financial assets in the cryptocurrency world, inspired by popular internet memes. These coins can skyrocket in value, only to crash when market sentiment shifts abruptly.

In this article, we have briefly covered what meme coins are and how to:

invest in meme coins,
create your own meme coin,
trade meme coins, capitalizing on the volatile price swings of popular coins listed on exchanges.

Overall, successful meme coins can be seen as “pranks that went too far.” The chance of an unknown meme coin multiplying in value by 100 is just 1%. The potential for big rewards comes with equally high risks.

Advantages of Meme Coins

The biggest advantage of meme coins is their high-profit potential. There are real stories of traders making x100 profits by buying meme coins shortly after they were launched. This is possible because of factors like:

✔ Virality. Linked to internet memes and pop culture trends, meme coins can spread quickly and see their value skyrocket in no time.

✔A strong community of fans. Meme coins often have active, enthusiastic communities where members support and promote the coin, creating a sense of unity and shared focus on achieving results.

✔ Accessibility. Many meme coins have a low initial price, making them accessible to a wide range of people who are willing to risk a small amount and buy large quantities of coins.

Disadvantages of Meme Coins

However, investing in meme coins comes with significant risks:

✘ High volatility. Meme coin prices are highly unstable, with sharp fluctuations in a short time, increasing the risk of losses.

✘ Lack of intrinsic value. Unlike well-established cryptocurrencies or traditional assets (like gold or stocks in active companies), meme coins are often created for fun. Their value relies on short-lived emotional hype, which can quickly fade or may not even happen, making them particularly risky investments.

✘ Scam risk. Some meme coins are created by fraudsters. The lack of transparency in new crypto projects leaves investors vulnerable.

If you decide to trade meme coins with real money, make sure your strategy consistently grows your account. ATAS Market Replay and downloadable historical data can help you with that. Combine traditional candlestick analysis with professional volume analysis tools like cluster charts, the Delta indicator, market profile, and other features from our trading platform, designed by traders for traders.

Download ATAS. Once you install the platform, you will automatically get the free START plan, which includes cryptocurrency trading and basic features. You can use this plan for as long as you like before deciding to upgrade to a more advanced plan for additional ATAS tools. You can also activate the Free Trial at any time, giving you 14 days of full access to all the platform’s features. This trial allows you to explore the benefits of higher-tier plans and make a well-informed purchasing decision.

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Information in this article cannot be perceived as a call for investing or buying/selling of any asset on the exchange. All situations, discussed in the article, are provided with the purpose of getting acquainted with the functionality and advantages of the ATAS platform.