Memecoins Crash Hard: $35B Left as Retail Pulls Back Big Time
By the end of 2025, the once red-hot memecoin market had cooled down dramatically. The sector had peaked over the holiday season...
Quick overview
- By the end of 2025, the memecoin market saw a dramatic decline, losing 65% of its value from a peak of $100 billion to around $35 billion.
- Trading volume for memecoins plummeted by 72% over the past year, indicating a significant drop in retail investor interest.
- Political narratives played a crucial role in both the rise and fall of memecoins, with high-profile token launches leading to a loss of trust and increased skepticism.
- The NFT market is also experiencing a downturn, with its total value falling to $2.5 billion, mirroring the contraction seen in memecoins.
By the end of 2025, the once red-hot memecoin market had cooled down dramatically. The sector had peaked over the holiday season a year ago, but has since shed 65% of its value. On December 19th, it was worth about $35 billion – down from around $100 billion just 12 months before, according to CoinMarketCap data. A minor bounce in the market subsequently lifted valuations to around $36 billion, but overall, it still suggests a market that is pulling back.
Just a year ago, memecoins were all the rage, commanding nearly $100 billion in market capitalization, driven by viral momentum and high-risk trading. Now, though, they’re suffering from weaker liquidity, fading participation, and a more cautious approach to speculative assets across the crypto market.
Trading activity is reflecting this downturn quite starkly. The aggregate memecoin trading volume plummeted by 72% over the past 12 months to a mere $3.05 trillion – a clear indication that retail appetite has dried up. And analysts are now starting to see memecoins as a proxy for risk sentiment, with the downturn being seen as a signal of caution spreading among smaller investors.
coingecko dropped a year-end piece and basically said the quiet part out loud. the memecoin season is done, at least this one.
early 2025 was the top. market cap around $150b, pumpfun everywhere, listings flying, everyone thinking this thing would never cool off. then reality… pic.twitter.com/LNPrKeqJx2
— Tazman (@tazmancrypto) December 26, 2025
Politics Played a Big Role in Boom and Bust
Politics had a big hand in both the rise and the fall of the memecoin market. Throughout 2024, election-related narratives helped drive speculative tokens into the spotlight. According to CoinGecko, political themes dominated social media, new token launches, and on-chain activity – effectively turning memecoins into a litmus test for election-driven sentiment.
As the US presidential election heated up, traders flocked to politically themed tokens, helping push valuations to record levels. But it was the very same dynamic that later accelerated the downturn.
A couple of high-profile token launches tied to political figures – such as a token linked to US President Donald Trump and another associated with Argentine President Javier Milei – marked a turning point. Sharp price crashes and allegations of insider activity and uneven token distribution soon followed these projects. CoinGecko noted that these events severely eroded confidence and shifted sentiment from enthusiasm to scepticism, putting even more selling pressure on the sector.
The reversal was caused by a combination of key factors, including:
- The rapid loss of trust following high-profile token crashes
- Growing scrutiny of politically themed crypto projects
- Reduced retail risk appetite in late 2025
- Liquidity migration towards bigger, more established assets
These factors combined to create a structural cooling of speculative demand.
NFT Market is Taking a Hit too
The downturn isnt just confined to memecoins. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – another highly speculative corner of the crypto market – are also at their weakest levels of the year in December.
According to CoinGecko, the total NFT market value fell to $2.5 billion, the lowest point in 2025. This is eerily similar to the 72% contraction seen in memecoins from their January 2024 peak.
Activity metrics are telling the same story. Data from CryptoSlam show that the number of weekly NFT sellers dropped below 100,000 for the first time since April 2021. This highlights how quickly participation has dried up.
The parallel decline between memecoins and NFTs suggests a broader recalibration of speculative behaviour. Retail investors are getting pickier and now favour assets with greater liquidity, transparency, and durability over the latest viral narrative.
While memecoins have historically rebounded when risk appetite picks up, the current data suggests that the market is still waiting for a catalyst to get things moving again. And until that happens, the sector is likely to remain defined by restraint rather than pure exuberance.
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