- The TRUMP token accounted for over 8% of the entire crypto market’s trading volume during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
- Despite the cooled-off hype, Solana-based memecoins continue to dominate memecoin trading activity, potentially challenging long-standing patterns.
- PolitiFi tokens reached 5% of the memecoin market cap and 21% of its trading volume, with the TRUMP memecoin accounting for 90% of the sector.
According to DeFiLlama’s Narrative Tracker, PolitiFi tokens and Solana (SOL) were the biggest winners in January, leading in category performance. The main catalysts behind this surge were Donald Trump’s inauguration and the launch of the official TRUMP token on Solana. At its peak, TRUMP temporarily accounted for over 8% of the entire crypto market’s trading volume, briefly pushing the total memecoin market cap above $115 billion.
The Post-TRUMP Cooldown
However, despite the continued creation of over 60,000 new memecoins daily on Pump.fun, the sector has largely cooled off following the TRUMP frenzy. Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, the memecoin market cap has declined by 12%, while trading volume has dropped by over 80%.
Memecoins now represent less than 3% of the total crypto market cap — below post-election levels. Meanwhile, trading volume on Solana DEXes, which were key drivers of the latest memecoin surge, has returned to pre-TRUMP launch levels.
TRUMP’s Impact on Memecoin Volume Distribution
While the mid-January hype may have faded, it reshaped the memecoin landscape. In previous cycles, top-ranking memecoins by volume and market cap were dominated by Dogecoin and various Ethereum-based tokens. In 2024, however, the memecoin boom expanded to other networks, with Solana occasionally leading the sector in trading volume during local frenzies. Historically, though, after these hype-driven spikes, Dogecoin and Ethereum-based tokens have typically reclaimed dominance as trading volume rotated back to more established memecoins.
However, the TRUMP token may have disrupted this pattern. During Trump’s inauguration, TRUMP and MELANIA together accounted for 67.8% of total memecoin trading volume, significantly driving Solana-based memecoin activity. Notably, this surge in volume share was partly fueled by capital rotation from other memecoins, as several tokens, including DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE, experienced double-digit declines amid the TRUMP token’s launch.
Since then, trading volume has gradually rotated back toward memecoins like DOGE and PEPE, suggesting that previous leaders are reclaiming their top spots. Yet, as of February 1, Solana still dominates memecoin trading volume, with TRUMP maintaining the top position, accounting for 20% of total memecoin volume and 42% of Solana’s memecoin activity.
This raises two possibilities: either TRUMP is a game-changer, solidifying Solana’s position as the leading network for memecoin trading this year, or TRUMP’s volume still has room to decline, potentially dragging down the entire category of Solana-based memecoins due to its weight.
TRUMP’s Influence on the PolitiFi Sector
The TRUMP token has also transformed the PolitiFi sector, instantly becoming its dominant asset. It now represents 89% of both PolitiFi’s total market cap and trading volume.
Chart: Market Cap Breakdown in the PolitiFi Sector
With TRUMP in the mix, political memecoins have significantly increased their influence within the sector, now accounting for 5% of the memecoin market cap and 21% of its trading volume. This marks a 14x and 24x increase in market cap and volume, respectively, over the past two months. However, previous spikes in PolitiFi dominance have been short-lived, suggesting the sector could lose its momentum just as quickly as it gained it.
Conclusion
The launch of the TRUMP token has had a profound impact on the memecoin market, reshaping sector dynamics and challenging the long-standing dominance of Dogecoin and Ethereum-based memecoins. While the initial hype has subsided, the TRUMP token significantly influenced Solana’s increasing role in memecoin trading and the growth of the PolitiFi sector. This doesn’t necessarily indicate the complete shift in market trends, since they are historically short-lived, but can better position Solana in further potential memecoin frenzies.