Top 10 Meme Coins for Savvy Investors – A Comprehensive Guide

Over the past few years, we have seen two prominent Internet trends, memes and cryptocurrency. They have merged to introduce a completely new phenomenon – a combination of the pop culture references of internet jokes with the innovative decentralized ledger technology to present us with meme coins. Though meme coins, such as Dogecoin, started only as a homage to the online meme culture of the early 2010s, these projects have gained incredible popularity over the last few years and evolved into multi-billion dollar projects, attracting the attention of some of the biggest institutions and investors.

What are Meme Coins?

Simply defined, meme coins are cryptocurrency projects that are inspired by internet memes, viral trends, or cultural icons, with the primary purpose of prioritizing humor and community engagement. Even though these crypto tokens are widely used for online payments and tipping content creators, their value is primarily driven by hype and speculation.

Within the crypto space, meme coins are known for their unpredictable nature and sudden price movements, making them a popular option for those looking for explosive returns in a short period. The prices are mainly dependent on social media trends and celebrity endorsements, and sometimes, even a single tweet by an influential figure can plummet or sink the price within a short span. As a result, these tokens are regarded as an extremely risky asset class.

Top 5 Established Meme Coins

Following are five of the best-known meme coin projects with the biggest market capitalization and most active communities.

1. Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE) – the granddaddy of all meme coins – was launched during the early days of the crypto industry when Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer created it as a satire of the furiously growing crypto craze. The project quickly got the spotlight, gaining mainstream attention within the community and attracting a large following, thanks to the newly introduced meme culture at that time.

It wasn’t until 2021, when its price skyrocketed to its all-time high of $0.73 due to the social media hype and several tweets by Elon Musk, that Dogecoin gained its enviable status among the ten biggest projects by market capitalization. As of today, DOGE sits around $0.1985, reflecting a more stable but still uncertain price point. The future is highly unpredictable in the arena of meme coins, but if the Dogecoin community manages to maintain this hype, it can be hugely helpful for investors.

2. Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu (SHIB), which made its debut in August 2020, became the biggest rival against Dogecoin in the meme-coin department. Indeed, SHIB skyrocketed in popularity in 2021, peaking millions of times higher than its inaugural price. Nonetheless, the token followed a similar collapse trend in 2022. Currently, SHIB is about $0.000028, a fraction of its all-time high price. Even after its descent, the coin remains firmly in the top 15 crypto markets by capitalization, proving to be a leader in the meme sector.

However, many factors will determine SHIB’s future. The Shiba Inu project’s developers continue to work on their ShibaSwap decentralized exchange, as well as the Shibarium Layer 2 blockchain. This development aims to elevate the status of SHIB beyond merely a meme coin. There are also rumors about tie-ups with major firms; if that turns out to be the case, SHIB’s price may be significantly affected.

3. Floki Uni (FLOKI)

Launched in June 2021, Floki Inu entered the market at the height of the meme coin craze. While some meme coins operate only on hype, Floki Inu seeks to put its imprint on real-world use cases, creating Floki Marketplace, the Valhalla Game, and the Floki Inuversity Education Platform.

The Floki Marketplace is an online platform that allows users to purchase, sell, or trade goods as well as FLOKI tokens. The Valhalla, a Viking-themed video game that follows the game-to-earn gameplay style, is the second project. The third initiative is an education platform that will help newcomers on interconnected crypto-related issues.

4. Dogwifhat (WIF)

Dogwifhat is among the most curious meme coins of all time. It quickly took over the meme coin world from early to mid-2023. The pioneers of WIF launched it on the Solana blockchain with a name that was jazzy and reminiscent of the dog meme; in short, from there to the moon. Whether coincidence or not, WIF’s price journey began in early 2024 by surpassing the $4.83 all-time high in March. Today it faces a price correction of $3.80, which has sparked some speculation in the cryptocurrency community.

An interesting wrinkle in WIF’s story is the ongoing debate surrounding a potential halving event. The surge in meme coin prices is attributed to the anticipation surrounding the upcoming Bitcoin halving and the overall positive market sentiment.

5. Pepe (PEPE)

Another well-known meme coin, PEPE, debuted in April 2023 based on Ethereum. Taking its name from and featuring the same character as the popular internet meme Pepe the Frog, PEPE soared to fame shortly after its introduction and instantly became one of the most traded cryptos. For comparison, it took Dogecoin several years to achieve a similar feat and earn the same recognition.

PEPE website even admits that the coin has “no intrinsic value or expectation of financial return”. In other words, the coin’s value is understood solely in terms of speculative psychology rather than functional utility. Consequently, PEPE is currently traded at around $0.000008. Speculating on this coin’s price in the future is practically impossible.

5 Emerging Memecoins

1. Memecoin (MEME)

MEMECoin is an interesting meme coin project, as it uses a different approach compared to other meme-centered projects. MEME developed the meme coin ecosystem in 2023 and is devoted to meme coin enthusiasts. MEME pricing history is flexible since it is a new coin. Still, it has experienced reasonable initial growth and subsequent stabilization. At the time of writing, MEME’s price is $0.042, with a circulatory supply of 11,789,322,846 MEME, i.e., 17.09% of the total supply.

If MEME can actually draw meme fans and create a meme coin environment, this might work out. On the other hand, it may face tough competition from the existing meme creatures.

2. Toshi (Toshi)

Toshi is a new player in the competitive meme coin scene. It got its name from Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong’s cat. Coinbase introduced the meme coin on Base’s platform in 2023. Many of its aspects contribute to Toshi’s power and popularity, including the Toshi Base Chain Advantage. Therefore, its transaction times and trading fees are faster than regular PoW blockchains used by meme coins.

At the time of writing, Toshi is priced at $0.00066 with a circulatory supply of 408,069,300,000 TOSHI,i.e., which is 97.00% of its total supply. Recently, Toshi overshadowed Dogecoin and Shiba Inu with a 39% gain and became the best performer of the day among meme coins.

3. Cats in a Dogs World (MEW)

Cats in Dogs World or MEW was created to rival similar meme coins but with a dog theme. At the time of writing, MEW is trading at $0.004. The project has experienced some volatility lately. While the price has increased by 20% in the previous 24 hours, it has decreased by 30% in the last week only. Meme coins have a bad reputation for sudden price fluctuations, which is why they are considered highly volatile. MEW is still a far cry from its all-time low of $0.0009121, which reached March 2024, when it was last traded. This denotes a 398 percent gain. Keep in mind that MEW set an all-time high of $0.009716 on March 31, 2024.

MEW coins in circulation are 88.89 billion with a market cap is approximately $416 million. Consequently, it is on the lower side of meme coins’ market cap.

4. Bonk (BONK)

As one of the most popular meme coins today Bonk has seen a high price rally. In the first week of March 2024, for example, BONK shot up to an estimated peak price of $0.00004547 on March 04, 2024. The crypto market in general, including meme coins, experienced a bullish rally in early 2024, which may have contributed to BONK’s rally. As a result, the positive sentiment spilled over to BONK.

Additionally, technical indicators show that EMA 50 and EMA 200 vouch for the price BONK enjoys above EMA, which is an excellent sign of a new uptrend.

5. Book of Meme (BOME)

BOME is another well-known and rising meme coin in the world of cryptocurrencies. BOME has recently been trading at about $0.0131 as of April 11, 2024. Although today’s slight rise is around 1%, it is down over 15% for the week and more than 50% from the top. Furthermore, meme coins like BOME are known for their volatility. The price of BOME reached an all-time high of $0.02689 in March 2024. However, it traded at $0.00005848 at the beginning of March of this year. There are currently 55.2 billion BOME coins in existence. BOME’s market capitalization is estimated at $721 million, putting it in the middle of the meme coins by market value.

Final Thoughts

Meme coins have emerged as a fun and exciting investment opportunity in the world of cryptocurrency. However, their popularity cycle requires prudent decision-making based on knowledge and caution.

The meme coin community is continuously evolving, with new projects being launched almost every day. Some will disappear into oblivion, while others will find success. As amusing as these whimsical tokens may seem, meme coins are a high-risk investment. Before exploring the meme coin space, do your homework. Understand the risks of price collapses, and only put in what you can afford to lose.