Deep Dive
1. Sector-Wide Profit-Taking (Bearish Impact)
Overview: On January 20, 2026, total memecoin trading volume briefly surged 106% to $5.62 billion before dropping over 24%, while the sector's market capitalization fell 6% according to CoinMarketCap. Analysts, including Vincent Liu of Kronos Research, noted this pattern reflects profit-taking, short-term flipping, and capital rotation rather than sustained bullish inflows.
What this means: For MEME, this is bearish because it operates within a highly sentiment-driven sector. When sector-wide volume spikes alongside falling prices, it indicates that sellers are overwhelming buyers. This dynamic is exacerbated by the memecoin sector's fragility after a 2025 washout, where over 11.6 million crypto projects failed. MEME, lacking intrinsic utility, is particularly vulnerable to this rapid capital rotation as traders lock in gains from its early-2026 rally and move to other narratives.
What to look out for: Watch for a stabilization in the broader memecoin market cap, which would signal the end of this profit-taking phase.
2. Technical Downtrend Pressure (Bearish Impact)
Overview: MEME's price of $0.00108 is below its key 7-day, 30-day, and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), with the 200-day SMA at $0.0017799 acting as a distant resistance. The RSI-14 reading of 45.93 is in neutral territory, not yet oversold, suggesting room for further decline.
What this means: The technical picture reinforces the bearish sentiment. Trading below all major moving averages confirms a downtrend across short, medium, and long-term timeframes. The neutral RSI indicates there's no immediate buying pressure from traders looking for oversold bargains. This creates a negative feedback loop: weak technicals discourage new buyers, allowing sellers to push the price lower with less resistance.
What to look out for: A break above the 7-day SMA at $0.0011087 could signal short-term momentum reversal, while a sustained move above the 30-day SMA near $0.001103 is needed for a more bullish outlook.
Conclusion
MEME's decline is driven by a combination of speculative capital fleeing the broader memecoin sector and its own weak technical posture, which fails to attract counter-trend buyers. For holders, this highlights the coin's high-beta nature and sensitivity to shifts in market-wide risk appetite.
Key watch: Can Bitcoin hold above $90,000? MEME's near-term trajectory remains tightly linked to BTC's stability, as a further drop would likely trigger another wave of selling in speculative altcoins.