Memecoins Rally While Bitcoin Struggles Below $70K and Ether Declines

Bitcoin's stuck below $70,000. Can't break through. Meanwhile, memecoins and AI tokens? They're ripping.

Written by: Sophia Cruz • Tuesday, February 10, 2026 • 2 min read

• Last updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Quick overview

Bitcoin remains stagnant below $70,000, currently hovering around $68,700, while memecoins and AI tokens are experiencing significant gains.
The CoinDesk Memecoin Index rose by 1.5%, with PIPPIN seeing a remarkable 46% increase, indicating a strong interest in high-risk assets.
Despite the overall market sentiment showing 'extreme fear,' traders are rotating into more volatile plays as major assets remain stuck.
The future of memecoins' performance is closely tied to Bitcoin's movement; a breakthrough past $70,000 could attract more investors.

Bitcoin’s stuck below $70,000. Can’t break through. Meanwhile, memecoins and AI tokens? They’re ripping. BTC basically didn’t move in 24 hours, still hanging around $68,700. The CoinDesk 20 index crept up 0.4% despite ether falling.

Memecoins are doing the heavy lifting. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index jumped 1.5%, with PIPPIN exploding 46%. AI-linked tokens also did well. Worldcoin, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, rose over 3%. Virtuals’ VIRTUAL token climbed 2.4% as the “agentic AI” narrative picks up steam—basically AI that doesn’t just analyze but actually executes tasks.

The crypto Fear and Greed Index still shows “extreme fear” after last week’s selloff. That makes the memecoin strength even more interesting. When major assets are stuck and sentiment is terrible, speculators often rotate into higher-beta plays looking for quick gains.

Traditional markets steadied Monday, helped partly by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s landslide election win in Japan. But crypto markets are moving to their own beat right now.

Futures data tells a deeper story. Exchanges are seeing deep deleveraging and heavily negative funding rates. That means traders are paying to hold short positions, which usually happens when there’s been too much leverage getting flushed out. Options markets show something different though—long-term volatility expectations are stabilizing, suggesting the worst of the panic might be over.

In other news, Merkle Trade, a perpetual futures DEX on the Aptos blockchain, is shutting down. They got $2.1 million in funding under two years ago. Didn’t matter. Shut down anyway. Just shows you can raise capital in crypto and still go belly up.

The split between memecoins pumping and major tokens stuck is pretty typical of uncertain market phases. When traders don’t know if Bitcoin’s going up or down, they pile into smaller, more volatile assets hoping to catch a move. PIPPIN’s 46% gain shows that appetite is back for high-risk plays.

Can memecoins keep this up? Depends where Bitcoin goes. BTC pushes past $70,000 with conviction? That’ll pull more people in. Fails and slides lower? Those memecoin gains disappear quick.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Sophia Cruz

Financial Writer - Asian & European Desks

Sophia is an experienced writer, reporter and newsdesk member, mostly on the financial sectors. For the past 5 years Sophia has covered a wide variety of topics such as the financial markets, economics, technology, fin-tech and trading. Sophia has been a part of the FX Leaders team since 2017 and works on producing valuable content and information for traders of all levels of experience.