Memecoin supercycle refers to a phenomenon where memecoins experience explosive price movements, outperforming every other sector in the crypto market. These cycles are driven by viral internet culture, community enthusiasm, celebrity endorsements, and speculative hype for memecoins, defying all expectations of a market trend.
In this article, we will touch upon what a memecoin supercycle is, how it can be analyzed to determine a bull run, and the approach required to navigate the highly volatile and speculative memecoin space.
Memecoin Supercycle Explained
Unlike traditional and crypto financial markets, where fundamentals and earnings drive value, a memecoin supercycle is purely based on viral internet culture and supported by a strong and engaged community. What makes the phenomenon unique is the dynamic that meme-based cryptocurrencies bring to the market.
Traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), or Solana (SOL) tend to rise and fall in value based on technical or fundamental factors like blockchain upgrades or partnerships. However, in the case of memecoins, their movements are based on community sentiment and viral levels of attention.
Shifting online trends, social media virality, and hype can help memecoins gain momentum quickly, pushing their prices and market caps to new highs in a short period. But memecoin supercycles are purely speculative and rely heavily on collective enthusiasm rather than on tangible assets or their intrinsic value.
During every memecoin supercycle, new tokens emerge, each trying to capture the excitement surrounding the latest trend, whether it is through creative marketing or by engaging online communities. Memecoin projects with lower valuations and minimal utility suddenly move up the ladder, finding their place at the top of the crypto list. It is normal for a memecoin valued at a few thousand dollars to surpass a million or even hundreds of millions in market valuation within a span of a few days.
A key observation made by experts during the supercycle is that investors pull liquidity from more established assets like BTC and ETH to chase quick gains from meme coins. As a result of this liquidity surge, meme coins can experience jumps of hundreds or even thousands of percent.
How Is The Memecoin Supercycle Changing The Altcoin Market?
The rise of meme coins is reshaping the altcoin landscape, posing tough challenges for established cryptocurrencies in a way that could not be previously perceived. Historically, altcoins have gained traction because of technological promises or innovations. However, the memecoin supercycle has introduced a new dynamic where popularity and virality outweigh pure technological advancements.
The memecoin index, which tracks the performance of meme coins on the market, demonstrates just how influential meme coins have become lately. This index has been consistently rising, highlighting that memecoins are clawing at a significant portion of the overall cryptocurrency market. According to the memecoin supercycle thesis, this trend is expected to continue as more tokens enter the market and enthusiasts push for broader crypto adoption.
Memecoins have outperformed many traditional altcoins during specific periods. In 2021, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by over 12,000%, primarily driven by Elon Musk’s endorsement of the token, leading to an explosion in demand. Similar outperformance was also observed in 2024, when Solana-based memecoins like BONK and WIF trumped ETH during the memecoin supercycle. This has led some analysts to believe that meme coins will permanently alter the altcoin hierarchy.
Furthermore, the latest trend in the market is the integration of memecoins into decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, offering investors staking, yield farming, and liquidity mining opportunities. This has added a much-needed utility layer to memecoins, making them more than just speculative investments. In 2025, the memecoin supercycle will be determined by these industry developments.
History of the Memecoin Supercycle
The term “Memecoin Supercycle” was first coined by crypto analyst Murad Mahmudov, who theorized that there could be extended periods in the market during which meme-based cryptocurrencies experience explosive price growth, often driven by viral internet trends, social media hype, and community engagement.
Let’s take a look at the history of the memecoin supercycle and how the meme-based digital currency space has evolved through each bull run.
2017-2018: Dogecoin Supercycle
The first-ever memecoin supercycle occurred between 2017 and 2018. This market uptrend was single-handedly driven by DOGE, the memecoin heavily endorsed by Elon Musk. During this period, DOGE’s price soared from around $0.0002 in February 2017 to a peak of $0.0175 by January 2018, representing gains of 61,000%.
Dogecoin’s market cap jumped from $23 million to nearly $2 billion during this period. This cycle also coincided with the border crypto bull run, but the meteoric rise of DOGE highlighted the power of speculative assets like memecoins.
2020-2021: Mainstream Adoption of Memecoins
The 2020-2021 crypto bull run is, to date, the largest memecoin supercycle. During this period, DOGE surged from $0.0024 to an all-time high of $0.7376, a gain of nearly 30,000%. SHIB, an Ethereum-based memecoin released in 2020 to compete with DOGE, exploded more than 173,000x.
This period marked the entry of memecoins into mainstream culture, with Elon Musk playing a key role in propping up DOGE and many memecoins being listed on leading crypto exchanges due to popular demand.
2024-2025 Memecoin Supercycle
Memecoins experienced unprecedented growth in 2024, driven by the introduction of AI-powered tokens and characterized by heightened community engagement, viral marketing, and a shift in investor priorities toward humor and internet meme culture.
Unlike previous cycles, this phase proved the longevity of memecoins and their mainstream acceptance. Growing demand for memecoins led to the introduction of platforms allowing investors to stake, yield farm, or lend the speculative assets.
Signs of a Memecoin Supercycle
Here is how to identify a memecoin supercycle:
- The onset of a memecoin supercycle can be determined by the prices of popular memecoins or new entrants experiencing rapid and exponential growth. This parabolic rise signals widespread investor interest in trading speculative assets.
- Memecoins tend to outperform other cryptocurrencies, sometimes gaining more value than BTC or ETH. This level of explosive growth is a hallmark of a memecoin supercycle.
- The memecoin supercycle often coincides with the memecoin supercycle. Increased token presales, ICOs, and new exchange listings reflect growing investor enthusiasm and interest in speculative assets.
- During a supercycle, trading volumes across memecoins spike dramatically, both on centralized and decentralized exchanges. This heightened activity comes with high volatility and is driven by fast-changing investor sentiment and social media trends.
- Memecoin supercycles are fueled by vibrant online communities and viral internet culture. Social media hype, celebrity endorsements, and meme-driven narratives create a feedback loop that propels prices of certain tokens to all-new heights.
How To Invest During a Memecoin Supercycle?
Here are some strategies and best practices to invest effectively during a memecoin supercycle:
- Participate in memecoin presales to buy tokens at discounted prices before they hit exchanges. These programs allow early investors to capture significant unrealized gains even before public trading begins for the tokens. Additionally, some projects offer staking opportunities during presales, which can yield massive returns.
- Utilize social media sentiment analysis tools to track the memecoins that are trending on X, Reddit, Discord, and Telegram. Adopt swing trading strategies to capitalize on short-term price volatility by entering and exiting positions based on social media hype and other technical indicators.
- Engage with new memecoin projects by participating in community tasks to receive free tokens through airdrops. These tokens can provide instant profits or be staked to increase holdings during a potential supercycle. Holding on to airdropped tokens may be more profitable as prices continue to rise.
- Spreading investments across multiple memecoins is a good strategy to mitigate the risk of any single token falling substantially. Include a mix of established memecoin and emerging tokens to balance risk and reward.
- Do your own research before investing in new memecoins. Verify a given project’s legitimacy by checking the team, whitepapers, official channels, and token contract addresses to avoid scams and copycat tokens.
- Given the extreme volatility and speculative nature of memecoins, only invest money that you can afford to lose.
Downsides of a Memecoin Supercycle
There are significant risks involved with memecoin supercycles, and they are multifaceted, primarily stemming from the speculative and volatile nature of meme-based cryptocurrencies.
- Memecoins are known to experience price fluctuations driven by social media hype, viral trends, and speculative trading. Prices can surge quickly during a bull run but crash just as fast during corrections, causing unpredictable and often severe losses for traders.
- Unlike established cryptocurrencies, which have practical use cases, memecoins generally lack intrinsic value or utility. Their prices are largely driven by trends, hype, and community sentiment rather than fundamentals, making them highly susceptible to sudden shifts in market mood.
- The frequent introduction of new memecoins can saturate the market, diluting interest and liquidity. This oversupply increases the risk of many coins failing or losing value rapidly.
- The largely unregulated memecoin space is prone to scams, rug pulls, and fraudulent schemes, putting investors at severe risk of losing their entire investment.
- The excitement surrounding price surges during a memecoin supercycle tends to be short-lived. Once the hype fades, many memecoins experience sharp declines, challenging the idea of a sustained bull run.
- The hype-driven nature of memecoins could lead to many new or inexperienced traders making emotional decisions during a supercycle, increasing the likelihood of significant losses.
Read More: What is an Altcoin Season and How to Identify and Capitalize on It?
Final Thoughts
A memecoin supercycle is indicated by a strong rally in the memecoin market, and the internet meme-inspired cryptocurrencies are experiencing larger growth than established crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum in a short span. The increased trading volumes and social media hype signal continued interest and momentum in the assets.
These supercycles have helped many investors achieve substantial short-term gains, but a cautious approach is necessary due to the speculative and highly volatile nature of the memecoin market.
It is highly recommended that potential investors conduct adequate research about newly launched memecoin projects and manage their risk by diversifying their portfolios to benefit from the supercycle.