Memecoins 2024: Market, trends, and opportunities

 Key Points:

• The majority of memecoin projects (89%) have a market cap between zero and $1,000 .
• Only 5% of memecoins had a market cap above $10 million in March 2024.
• The number of liquid memecoins vs. their market caps is several times higher than that of Bitcoin.

Introduction: The launch of Dogecoin in 2014 attracted the attention of both the general public, crypto enthusiasts, the media, and - later - serious investors. It was the starting point of a new type of project - tokens based on popular and relevant memes.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the memecoin market remains one of the fastest-growing niches in the current bull market.

Market Analysis:

Memecoin Issuance:

According to DEX aggregator data, every day between 40,000 and 50,000 new crypto tokens are created; this can reach 100,000 during periods of intense viral hype. Solana leads with 17 to 20 thousand new tokens a day.

The level of memecoin creation activity remains very high: the average age of a liquid token is only 1.3 hours. Once again, Solana leads in terms of emission activity.

Market Capitalization:

The number of liquid memecoins vs. their market caps is several times higher than that of Bitcoin. Starting from the emergence of memecoins in 2014, the overall market cap of this niche has fluctuated greatly.

The first big upward move happened in Q2 2017 (1,198%), when the overall market cap of memecoins reached $343 million. In Q1 2018, the market crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time, after which the market cap ranged between $250M and $900M.

The next period of growth took place in Q1 2021 (+1,287%), when the memecoin market cap reached $7.2 billion. Throughout the rest of 2021, it skyrocketed to $30-60 billion.

The 2022-2023 crypto winter caused memecoins' overall market cap to plummet to $17-21 billion. In Q4 2023, the market consolidated around $22 billion before the next push. In Q1 2024, the memecoin market cap grew significantly (by 169%) to reach $60 billion, which isn't far from the ATH value.

Earning with Memecoins: The Strategies

Investing in Memecoins:

• Investors track memecoins that are ready to attract investments, such as MEME (Binance), SLERF, BOME, etc. Each is a new opportunity to buy meme tokens at a low price.
• Entry criteria are usually determined in advance by an investor: market cap between $500,000 and $2-3 million, trading volume upwards of $2 million a day, various scam checks, etc.
• Some investors focus on specific chains, such as only Ethereum or only Solana.
• Money management strategies used include splitting an amount equally among several assets, scaled selling, etc.
• Investors also track insider info on launches by experienced teams or VCs.
• Automated memecoin sniping tools are often used, such as Gem Hunter Dog, Block X-Ray, Sniper Scores, Ushi.pro, BananaBot, UniBot/Trojan, Maestro, SolTradeBot, Rock, etc.

Memecoin Investment Risks:

• Widespread scams: 40% of projects are affected by pumps & dumps, 30% are rug pulls, 20% have extra fees attached, and 2-3% are honeypot scams.
• High volatility: memes are 50 times more volatile than BTC.
• Lack of objective data: people often buy memecoins based on name alone.

Blockchain Trends:

An analysis of the memecoins listed on aggregator platforms shows that Ethereum leads among all chains by the absolute number of projects (45%). Other popular blockchains for launching memecoins are BNB Chain, Solana, and Arbitrum (53% of all liquid memecoins). Solana has the highest number of new DEX pair created daily.

The majority of memecoins are single-chain, but we have also identified 64 multichain projects. The first multichain memecoins emerged in late 2021.

Conclusion: The memecoin market is a rapidly growing and highly volatile space, with new projects emerging every day. While there are risks involved, there are also opportunities for investors who are willing to take the time to research and understand the market.