The memecoin market has kicked off 2026 with significant momentum, experiencing a remarkable 23% increase in market capitalization within just one week. The total market cap rose from $38 billion on December 29 to $47.7 billion by January 6. This surge comes on the heels of a challenging 2025, where the market had faced a steep decline of 65%.
Transaction volume across the sector also saw a dramatic rise, skyrocketing 300% from $2.17 billion to $8.7 billion in the same timeframe. Major players in the memecoin sphere posted impressive gains, with Dogecoin climbing by 20%, Shiba Inu gaining 19.9%, and Pepe leading with a remarkable 65% increase.
The recent rally follows a period of low activity in the memecoin market, particularly evident when the market cap dipped to $35 billion on December 19. This marked the culmination of the prolonged downturn throughout 2025. As the new year commenced, large investors began to re-enter the market, with substantial purchases of Dogecoin noted. On-chain data reveals that over 325 million DOGE tokens were acquired, with approximately 220 million bought in just a single day.
As a result of this renewed interest, Dogecoin”s trading volume surged by 114% to reach $3.23 billion, with the price rising to $0.1432, surpassing the critical $0.130 threshold. Meanwhile, Shiba Inu saw its price reach $0.000007665, marking an 8% daily gain and an 86% increase in trading volume to $216.26 million.
Smaller tokens also experienced upward momentum, with Bonk rising nearly 11% and Floki climbing close to 10%. Additionally, Mog Coin increased approximately 14% in one day and 37% over the week. This shift in trading patterns became evident as market intelligence platform Santiment observed that the rally began shortly after a peak in negative sentiment among retail traders, just after the holiday season.
Currently, the overall memecoin market cap stands above $45.3 billion, reflecting a growth of 20.8% over the past week. Noteworthy gainers include $PEPE with a rise of 54%, $USELESS also up 54%, and $MOG climbing 38%.
The broader cryptocurrency market is also on the rise, having gained 3% in the last 24 hours, pushing the total crypto market cap to $3.12 trillion. Bitcoin is trading above $91,000, highlighting a positive shift in market sentiment.
As the memecoin segment continues to gain traction, trading activity for Pepe futures reached an open interest of $448.70 million. The token is noted to be exhibiting a falling wedge pattern on daily charts, currently trading around the $0.0000055907 level. Overall, both large-cap and small-cap memecoins are seeing increased trading volumes, suggesting a shift in investor focus.
