Memecoins are back in the spotlight, and guess who is behind it again? Elon Musk, of course. His faithful Shiba Inu, Floki, just caused a small earthquake in the markets. It took just an absurd video, posted on X, for FLOKI – the token of the same name – to jump nearly 30%. In a crypto industry where fundamentals often fade in front of hype, the Musk effect continues to act as a catalyst.
This Monday, Elon Musk posts on X an AI-generated video showing his dog Floki, glasses on the snout and tie knotted, impersonating a CEO during a meeting. “Numbers, numbers, numbers, numbers? Does it work? Yay”. The caption? “Flōki is back in charge as CEO of 𝕏!”
A few minutes later, FLOKI, the eponymous memecoin, takes off by 29%. From $0.00006572 to $0.00008469, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, it hovers around $0.00007998. The move echoes February 2023, when Musk had already named his dog CEO, triggering a 146% jump in FLOKI’s market cap.
This phenomenon is nothing new. Musk has stirred Dogecoin for years. A joke on SNL? +$500 million in 15 minutes. A logo change on X? Pump. His simple tweet remains a macroeconomic variable for the memecoin sector. And for some traders, like Bonk Guy, it’s still a strategy:
How many times has the FLOKI price exploded the last time Elon did that?
If I remember correctly, he followed up posts with tweets and memes on “Floki CEO of X,” and he even enthusiastically talked on TV about how great it was that his dog was running Twitter. It would be ironic if we witnessed a remake!
The FLOKI rebound comes as the memecoin market is just recovering from a carnage. In October, these assets lost 40% of their value in a few days. The market cap fell from $72 billion to $44 billion (source: CoinMarketCap). Then, barely recovered, a second collapse followed, wiping out $230 billion in market capitalization in a single day across the crypto market.
In this chaos, Musk’s video acts like a bandage on an open wound. It makes people smile, it makes them buy. But does it hold up over time? FLOKI is an Ethereum crypto, like many other tokens based on narratives. When Musk tweets, it soars. But the euphoria falls as quickly as it rose.
Behind this volatility lies another question: what drives these rises? Neither technology nor use case. Simply well-crafted storytelling. And in this game, Elon Musk remains the absolute master.
Since Elon Musk’s tweet, euphoria has taken hold of part of the market, but the picture is not so simple. Sure, technical indicators have turned green – AO, CMF, 20 EMA – suggesting a bullish momentum for FLOKI. But this is not the first time the memecoin flares up before falling back.
On crypto forums, the atmosphere is mixed. Some bet on a repeat of the 2023 scenario, when Floki had doubled in value. Others temper expectations, recalling that FLOKI had already lost more than 40% over three months before Musk’s rebound.
Added to this is the proliferation of opportunistic tokens like “Flōki CEO of X,” launched a few hours after the tweet, briefly reaching $423,000 market cap. This multiplication may dilute interest in the original token.
The FLOKI surge does not seem isolated. For Shiba Inu, another emblematic memecoin, a rebound is underway. After hitting its annual low, the asset attempts a technical recovery that could brighten the whole sector. Musk’s breath sometimes acts like a draft. But some signs indicate that other tokens might soon start their engines.
