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Daily meme coin trading activity hit a new 2026 high this week despite a broader market downturn, after a viral penguin meme triggered an on-chain trading frenzy.
On Jan. 26, daily Solana token launchpad volumes exceeded $180 million, the highest single-day figure recorded so far this year, according to <a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/memecoin-wars" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a> from Dune Analytics.
The surge in volume followed the breakout performance of Nietzschean Penguin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/nietzschean-penguin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PENGUIN</a>), which tapped a nearly $170 million market capitalization within a week of launching on Pump.fun.
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/7274742bb90740abb4cd7c7ade2d2e31.png">

The total meme coin market capitalization dropped this week. Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>
The total meme coin market cap still declined more than 3% WoW, with large-cap meme coins such as Dogecoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DOGE</a>), Shiba Inu (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SHIB</a>), and Pepe (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PEPE</a>) dropping roughly 3.8%, 5%, and 4.8%, respectively, according to <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a> from CoinMarketCap.
The sell-off in large-cap memes reflected the broader market downturn, with core cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>), Ethereum (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>), and Solana (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/solana/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SOL</a>) losing around 2.3%, 2.1%, and 5.5%, respectively.
On Jan. 24, markets on prediction platform Kalshi priced in a <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/solana-news-sol-slides-on-shutdown-fears-ondo-launches-stock-tokens-coinbase-adds-on-chain-trading-and-more" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">sharp rise</a> in the likelihood of a U.S. government shutdown, with odds climbing from below 35% to above 80% following a funding dispute among U.S. lawmakers over immigration enforcement.
<h2 id="penguin-meme-enters-u-s-political-spotlight">Penguin Meme Enters U.S. Political Spotlight</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/7757bfa2a32e4f2ca44f4c3149af970e.png">

The White House amplified a viral penguin meme on Jan. 23. Source: <a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2014819683757678654" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">X/White House</a>
On Jan. 23, the official White House X account posted an image depicting U.S. President Donald Trump walking through a snow-covered landscape alongside a penguin, with Greenland’s flag visible in the background. The post was captioned, “Embrace the penguin.”
Penguins are native primarily to the Southern Hemisphere and do not inhabit Greenland.
The image circulated widely on social media, with other U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, referencing the meme in subsequent posts.
The imagery appeared to allude to a scene from the 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, directed by Werner Herzog, which shows a penguin separating from its colony and heading alone toward the mountains.
The reference coincided with a sharp surge in trading activity for the PENGUIN meme coin, which launched on Pump.fun on Jan. 16.
Following the White House post, the token’s market capitalization rose from below $20 million to a peak of roughly $170 million the next day, according to CoinMarketCap data.
The PENGUIN token has since attracted more than $200 million in cumulative trading volume, the data shows.
<h2 id="launchpad-activity-accelerates">Launchpad Activity Accelerates</h2>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/c690cb3a1615481d9fde0ebd4ab190b2.png">

New token launches on Solana surged this week. Source: <a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/memecoin-wars" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Dune Analytics</a>
The surge in trading activity tied to PENGUIN fueled a broader spike in meme coin creation. New token launches climbed to a 2026 daily high of nearly 45,000 on Jan. 27, according to Dune Analytics.
Roughly 400 of those newly minted tokens “graduated,” meaning they attracted sufficient liquidity to transition from a launchpad to a decentralized exchange, the data shows.
Pump.fun, Solana’s largest token launchpad, emerged as the primary beneficiary of the renewed trading activity. The platform generated more than $1 million per day in trading fees for most of the week, according to on-chain data.
On Jan. 28, Pump.fun <a href="https://x.com/PumpfunEco/status/2016546544141422614?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> it had repurchased more than $2.3 million worth of its native PUMP token using platform fee revenue. As of Jan. 29, the PUMP token traded at a market capitalization of approximately $1.1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
<h2 id="by-the-numbers">By the Numbers</h2>
Total Meme Coin Market Cap: $38.05B
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/4a6d60c5efc04829a32000290524f555.png">

Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>
Top 5 Meme Coins by Market Cap:
<ol>
 <li>Dogecoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DOGE</a>): $20.31B</li>
 <li>Shiba Inu (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SHIB</a>): $4.42B</li>
 <li>Pepe (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PEPE</a>): $1.99B</li>
 <li>MemeCore (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/memecore/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">M</a>): $1.94B</li>
 <li>Official Trump (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/official-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TRUMP</a>): $928M</li>
</ol>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/dd10c9e7af784c7dbb55f67aac028aaf.png">

Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>
Most Visited Memes:
<ol>
 <li>Moonbirds (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/moonbirds/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BIRB</a>)</li>
 <li>Dogecoin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dogecoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DOGE</a>)</li>
 <li>Shiba Inu (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/shiba-inu/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SHIB</a>)</li>
 <li>Pepe (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pepe/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PEPE</a>)</li>
 <li>Pippin (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/pippin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PIPPIN</a>)</li>
</ol>
<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/05af4ec22abb49a9aedb9cdd7b9f1d3e.png">

Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>

Meme Coin News: Meme Coin Volumes Hit 2026 High as Penguin Meme Sparks Breakout and More

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