New year signals renewed interest in meme coins as whale activity in SHIB, PEPE, and FLOKI intensifies. Over the past week, large trades above $100,000 have surged, with flows concentrated on centralized exchanges. On-chain analytics firm Santiment noted FLOKI’s whale activity on the Ethereum chain jumped about 950% over the past week, while PEPE rose about 620% and SHIB about 111%.
Analysts say the surge likely reflects short-term liquidity moves rather than long-term accumulation. Some funds have connected with major venues including Binance, OKX, and Kraken, as well as market makers such as Wintermute and Cumberland DRW. SHIB has also been linked to platforms like Coinbase Prime and Coinhako in Southeast Asia, among others.
The largest FLOKI trade was around $436,700 moved from a Binance hot wallet, and there were indications of ties to PancakeSwap (CAKE) with multiple MEV bots involved in the flow. This pattern suggests liquidity for short-term trades rather than long-term storage.
Solana’s meme coin market has also surged. Pump.fun, a decentralized exchange and launchpad on Solana, reported daily volume of about $2.03 billion on January 6, a new high. On the same day, Meteora handled around $2.14 billion, second only to Pump.fun. Most traded tokens on Pump.fun included newer meme coins such as FARTCOIN, PNUT, ACT, and WHITEWHALE, suggesting funds are moving toward newer projects rather than established names.
Analysts cautioned that there are no clear signs of long-term accumulation or panic selling, and the market may remain a high-risk, high-reward environment characterized by rapid pumps and dumps. Whale activity around meme coins is shaping a sophisticated ecosystem that blends algorithmic trading with automated liquidity adjustments. Investors should monitor liquidity provision and whale moves closely in this rapidly evolving landscape.
Leave a Reply