Whale transactions above $100,000 surged across meme coins, while social volume confirmed that retail traders are returning again.
Meme coins have reclaimed market attention following improved market conditions. In fact, new data points to synchronized whale buying and social hype across the tokens.
Activity remains concentrated around FLOKI, PEPE, and SHIB.
Whale Activity and Social Hype
Meme coins dominated large-holder activity this week, according to Santiment, and led gains in $100,000-plus whale transactions among projects with market capitalizations above $500 million. FLOKI recorded the largest increase. Ethereum-based FLOKI surged by a staggering 950%, followed by PEPE at 620% and BNB-based FLOKI at 550%.
Shiba Inu (SHIB) also ranked in the top ten, posting a 111% rise, amidst renewed whale interest in meme coins as the crypto market kicked off the year with a strong start.
Beyond whale activity, social data points to growing retail enthusiasm across the meme coin sector. Santiment reported a sharp rise in social volume around tokens such as PEPE, POPCAT, and MOG, coinciding with strong price gains and a speculative rebound in meme coin market capitalization.
Even established names like the OG Dogecoin (DOGE) and SHIB, as well as other popular tokens like Pepe (PEPE), Popcat (POPCAT), and Mog Coin (MOG), are seeing renewed momentum, which indicates that community-driven hype is once again drawing traders back after a challenging 2025.
A Comeback?
Meme coins remained one of the most closely followed crypto narratives last year, but that popularity failed to translate into performance. Despite dominating investor attention, CoinGecko found that these tokens posted an average year-to-date loss of 31.6% in 2025, and most leading assets were down between roughly 45% and over 80%. The weak returns suggested speculative enthusiasm cooled toward the end of the fourth quarter as investors grew more cautious.
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Following the end of the meme coin mania in November 2024, the share of these assets within the broader altcoin market steadily fell and eventually hit a historic low in December 2025. At that point, meme coins accounted for just 3.2% of total altcoin market capitalization, down from 11% in November 2024. Recent data, however, indicate that sentiment may now be changing as the leading ones posted double-digit gains over the past week.
DOGE’s price was up by almost 20% while SHIB surged by over 23%. PEPE and BONK also raked in 51.4% and 45% in gains during the same period.
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