The memecoin sector’s market capitalization has fallen to levels last seen in July, as meme-based tokens struggle to recover from the losses incurred during the crypto market’s sharp crash on Friday.
CoinMarketCap data shows that on Oct. 11, the memecoin sector dropped to a low of $44 billion, a nearly 40% drop from $72 billion the previous day. On Oct. 12, the memecoin market posted a slight recovery to $53 billion, a level last seen in July before a Solana-based memecoin frenzy ignited the sector’s late-summer rally.
Over the last four months, the memecoin market cap has consistently remained above $60 billion, as meme-based tokens have maintained strong retail interest, fueled by Solana and BNB Chain. However, the recent plunge marked a shift in momentum.
At the time of writing, the memecoin sector’s market cap hovers at $57 billion, still much lower than its recent performances.
Top memecoins struggle to recover from Friday’s bloodbath
According to CoinMarketCap, the top 10 memecoins account for roughly $47 billion, more than 82% of the sector’s total market capitalization. At the time of writing, all these tokens are trading in the red, both on the 24-hour and seven-day charts.
The biggest meme tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Pepe (PEPE) all posted weekly losses from 13–22%. Other top-ranked memecoins like Bonk (BONK) and Floki (FLOKI) dropped by over 20% in the last week.
US President Donald Trump’s official memecoin token was also hit by the crash and is now 20% down in the weekly charts.
Other sectors quickly stabilized after the market crash
While memecoins are still recovering from the aftermath of the crash, several other sectors have shown signs of faster stabilization and recovery.
Just a day after the crash, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) started to bounce back. During the market sell-off, the overall value of the NFT space dropped by 20%, with about $1.2 billion in value erased from the sector. However, the niche quickly recovered, immediately regaining 10% the day after the crash.
Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also quickly attracted fresh inflows after a wave of outflows following the recent market meltdown. On Tuesday, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $102 million in net inflows, while Ether ETFs recorded $236 million in net inflows.
More established cryptocurrencies were also quick to recover. Bitcoin (BTC), which dropped to $102,000, is now trading above $111,000, according to CoinGecko. Ether (ETH), which declined to below $3,700, has recovered to levels above $4,000.