Memecoins underperforming as investors focus on bitcoin and ether: analysts

According to CoinGecko data , the market cap of memecoins currently stands at $22.6 billion — reflecting a decrease of 1.8%. Conversely, the global cryptocurrency market cap is now at $2.08 trillion after posting a 2.1% increase in the past 24 hours.

Investors focusing on spot ETFs

Most investor interest is focused on bitcoin and ether due to institutional inflows via approved and potential spot ETFs , another analyst explains. "Bitcoin ETFs and the possible approval of ether ETFs are stimulating capital inflow mostly into these two coins," YouHodler Chief of Markets Ruslan Lienkha told The Block.

Lienkha sees memecoins as currently being "highly illiquid and volatile." He added that a large part of the crypto market is still struggling with poor liquidity.

"The recent bull run is structurally different from the crypto market hype in 2021. The market is segmented by smarter capital distribution, where memecoins are currently highly illiquid and volatile assets," Lienkha said.

The structurally different nature of the current market can be observed through the lower share of participants coming from the retail sector compared to past bull runs on Coinbase's centralized exchange. Quarterly retail trading volume on Coinbase is significantly lower than the levels experienced during the late 2021 bull run — when bitcoin reached its all-time high of over $68,000.

Coinbase retail trading volumes by quarter. Image: Coinbase.