Meme coins explode as Donald Trump wins Bitcoin election, catalyst or coincidence?

Crypto traders rejoiced as pro-Bitcoin candidate Donald Trump won the US Presidential election in 2024, leading to numerous potential changes throughout the industry.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, institutions and firms threw their weight behind the Republican candidate through donations to political action committees and the event, dubbed “the Bitcoin election” on social media platforms, catalyzed gains in several categories of cryptocurrencies, most notably in meme coins. 

Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), Dogwifhat (WIF), Bonk (BONK), among other meme tokens rallied in nearly double-digits in the last 24 hours. Meme coins inspired by Donald Trump suffered a correction, and failed to recover even as Trump emerged victorious in the election. Michael Saylor, founder and Chairman of MicroStrategy, one of the largest public holders of Bitcoin said, “We have a Bitcoin President,” in a tweet on X, signaling the sentiment among crypto traders. 

Donald Trump wins U.S. Presidential election, dubbed “Bitcoin election”

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, set a record high on election night, at $76,244, following Donald Trump’s win in the 2024 Presidential elections in the U.S. Meme coins, DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, WIF, BONK rallied alongside Bitcoin, posting nearly double-digit gains. Donald Trump is popular among crypto traders as the Bitcoin President and post election results, the market capitalization of crypto climbed nearly 0.5%, per CoinGecko data. 

Cryptocurrency market capitalization crossed $2.67 trillion, on Friday, November 8. 

Meme coin inspired by Donald Trump, MAGA (TRUMP) observed a 7% decline on Friday, at the time of writing. Crypto traders turned “extremely greedy” on a scale of 0 to 100, on the crypto fear and greed index, reflective of the sentiment among market participants on Thursday. Typically, “extreme greed” is associated with an impending correction in the crypto market. The indicator dipped to 75, implying “greed” is prevalent among traders.

Meme coins gain, market capitalization climbs 17% overnight

Meme coins are a leading narrative in the ongoing Bitcoin market cycle, clocking the highest gains for traders in Q1, and Q2 of 2024. The market capitalization of this category of tokens added 17% to its value and climbed past $75.24 billion, according to CoinGecko data. 

Among top 10 meme coins ranked by market capitalization, Dogecoin, Pepe, Bonk, Popcat (POPCAT), Floki (FLOKI), Brett (BRETT) and Neiro (NEIRO) rallied in double-digits on Thursday.

The 24-hour trade volume of the meme coin category is $15.48 billion, as the sector leads gains in the crypto market. Meme coins noted a spike in activity and trade volume and led to gains in the crypto ecosystem post-election.

The top three catalysts driving gains are Bitcoin’s new all-time high, rising open interest in meme coins across derivatives exchanges, and positive sentiment among traders. The statistics show that derivatives traders are betting big on meme coins after Trump’s win, likely expecting higher gains in the category of tokens. 

Open interest in Dogecoin climbed to $1.07 billion on Thursday, as seen on Coinglass data. Typically, higher open interest in a token signals higher activity and relevance among crypto traders. 

Open interest in Bonk is $257.60 million and in Pepe its $362.91 million, a notable spike in the charts.

Top 3 meme coins to watch

Dogecoin trades at $0.197620 at the time of writing. The largest meme coin by market capitalization could gain another 6% and test resistance at the psychologically important $0.21 level. This level has been respected as resistance for nearly six months now.  

The green histogram bars above the neutral line on the moving average convergence divergence indicator show underlying positive momentum in DOGE token. However, traders need to watch the token for a correction since the relative strength index generates a sell signal, above 70. DOGE is in the “overbought” zone and at risk of a price correction if demand fails to absorb the selling pressure across exchange platforms.

The $0.179800 level is a key support for DOGE, a correction could send the meme coin to this level. 

Shiba Inu, the second-largest meme coin looks primed for gains. SHIB has traded in a range bound manner, between $0.00002169 and $0.00001548. SHIB price could climb nearly 14% and test resistance at the upper boundary of the range at $0.00001548.

The relative strength index reads 58, close to the neutral level. The moving average convergence divergence indicator, an indicator that helps identify the underlying price trend shows that SHIB has positive momentum in its price trend. 

A daily candlestick close below the midpoint of the range at $0.00001844 could invalidate the bullish thesis and SHIB could test the lower boundary at $0.00001550.

PEPE broke out of its downtrend on September 27, since then the meme coin has traded in a range bound manner. Technical indicators show bullish potential in PEPE. The green histogram bars on the moving average convergence divergence indicator and the relative strength index support a thesis for gains in PEPE price. 

PEPE could test resistance at $0.00001197, the September 29 high for the meme coin, this marks 10% rally in the meme coin. If there is a correction in PEPE, the meme coin could find support at $0.00000880. 

Future of meme coins and the Trump effect

Trump’s win acted as a catalyst for Bitcoin and meme coins. The phenomenon is being dubbed the “Trump effect” across social media platforms. It remains to be seen whether the 47th President of the U.S. will follow through on the promise of making America the “crypto capital of the planet,” creating a crypto advisory council, replacing the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and creating a national Bitcoin reserve. 

Traders keep their eyes peeled to confirm whether DOGE, SHIB, PEPE, BONK and WIF gains are sustainable in the short-term.