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Few alternative assets offer the enormous upside potential — and proportionate downside risk — of meme coins. This corner of the crypto markptv.et is marked by sudden surges and retractions that defy fundamental and technical analysis.
Meme coins have the ability to turn fortunate investors into millionaires just as easily as they can crater account balances in the wake of a rug pull. For a recent example, look no further than the official Trump (TRUMP) token, the U.S. president’s meme coin.
On Jan. 18, the token was valued at $12.05, according to CoinMarketCap. But on Jan. 19, one day before President Trump’s inauguration, TRUMP surged by more than 516%, reaching its all-time high of $74.27. By Jan. 21, it had fallen in value to $33.41. Today, the token is worth $10.85 — or 85.39% less than at its peak.
Of course, crypto traders are no strangers to heightened volatility. It’s a hallmark of the asset class given its lack of regulatory oversight, liquidity challenges and speculative nature. Even bitcoin (BTC) and well-established altcoins like ethereum (ETH) are prone to sudden and dramatic shifts in price action.
But when it comes to meme coins, that volatility is amplified, as are the gains and losses associated with them. For investors with higher risk appetites, understanding the meme coin landscape can help increase the odds of success.
As their name suggests, meme coins are often inspired by viral internet memes, but can also include humorous characteristics or other viral elements. Examples include pepe (PEPE), shiba inu (SHIB) and dogecoin (DOGE).
Typically backed by strong — and sometimes niche — communities, their associated price action is often driven by social media hype. As tokens, they operate on major blockchains, such as ethereum or solana.
Many meme coins stay just blips on the radar, but some have amassed incredible market capitalizations. Elon Musk-endorsed DOGE, for instance, was created in 2013 as a tongue-in-cheek means of poking fun at the crypto landscape. Today, it is the largest meme coin by market cap with a valuation approaching $26 billion.
Yet it isn’t always the largest meme coins that find the greatest success. Due to their often ephemeral nature, some of the best-performing tokens aren’t recognized until they have already surged in price or plummeted in value.
One meme coin that provided the highest returns over the past year was SPX6900 (SPX), which despite having a market of nearly 1/26th of DOGE rewarded investors with a gain of more than 8,302%.
Instead of chasing meme coins that have already made it to the mainstream, crypto traders should concentrate on discovering high-potential cryptos before they take off. This can be done a number of ways, including focusing on crypto launchpads, crypto presales and social media trends.
Crypto launchpads are platforms that introduce new projects in order to raise funding. These platforms deliver early-stage crypto offerings to investors before they are publicly available. Best Wallet, for example, is a non-custodial digital wallet that also acts as a launchpad for internally vetted crypto projects.
Crypto presales offer access to pre-public tokens, which allow investors to buy at potentially discounted prices. Aggregators like CoinLaunch specialize in gathering, analyzing and rating emerging cryptocurrencies, while CoinGecko allows crypto enthusiasts to track which coins and tokens have performed best over 24-hour periods.
As for social media, Reddit has numerous forums that are popular among crypto trading circles. r/CryptoMoonShots and r/memecoins are two examples of subreddits that focus on low-cap cryptos and high-potential meme coins. Additionally, following meme coin influences on popular platforms like X (formerly Twitter) can point you in the direction of up-and-coming crypto projects that may warrant your attention.
If you want to get aboard a meme coin before it becomes mainstream, you will have to purchase it before it hits the major centralized crypto exchanges like Coinbase. This requires having either a hot crypto wallet, which are available as software or web-based applications, or a cold wallet, which are physical hardware.
The aforementioned Best Wallet is an example of a hot wallet. It supports more than 1,000 coins and tokens across 60 blockchains — including meme coins — and is known for its anonymity and lack of KYC requirements. An example of a cold wallet would be Trezor, which is Money’s pick for the best entry-level hardware wallet.
You can read about all of our picks for best crypto wallets before committing to any of them, but be mindful that if you wait until meme coins hit the big exchanges, the bulk of their upside potential is likely already in the rearview mirror.
