Trading in meme coins is spiking as the %Cryptocurrency rally broadens out beyond %Bitcoin ($BTC).
Market data shows that trading in meme coins such as %Dogecoin ($DOGE) and %ShibaInu ($SHIB) rose 61% in February as more than $6.4 billion U.S. worth of the digital assets changed hands.
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies based on popular internet memes. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), meme coins serve no practical function.
In the case of Dogecoin, which is nothing more than an image of a cartoon dog, its inventor admits that he started the digital token as a joke.
That hasn’t stopped retail investors from piling into meme coins as the rally in cryptocurrencies accelerates.
Meme coins such as PepeCoin, Shiba Inu, and Dogecoin rose 292%, 57%, and 59% respectively over the last month.
Futures trading in Dogecoin just set a record, reaching $1 billion U.S. in volumes, with 70% of the bets on the long side.
At the same time, data from Coinglass shows that short bets against Dogecoin lost $40 million U.S. in the past 24 hours as the meme coin’s price continues to rise.
The rally in meme coins and smaller cryptocurrencies comes as the price of Bitcoin surpasses $65,000 U.S. and nears its all-time high of $68,789 U.S. reached in November 2021.
