The meme coin market is showing signs of life again.
According to data from CoinGecko, the total meme coin market capitalization has climbed to $34.5 billion, up about 3.5% in the last 24 hours. Trading volume also reached $2.89 billion, as several major tokens posted modest rebounds.
Some analysts believe something interesting is happening behind the scenes.
Blockchain analytics firm Santiment says a “nostalgia” narrative is forming around meme coins. Many traders are calling the meme era “permanently dead.” But Santiment sees that extreme negativity as a classic capitulation signal.
In simple terms, when most people give up on a sector completely, that’s sometimes when it quietly starts turning around.
As Santiment put it, when the crowd fully writes something off, it may be time to pay attention again.
Leading the sector is Dogecoin, which holds a market cap of $16.29 billion — nearly 47% of the entire meme coin market. DOGE traded around $0.09659, posting a 4.3% gain over 24 hours.
In second place is Shiba Inu, with a market cap of $3.74 billion. SHIB traded near $0.006343, gaining 5.7% in 24 hours and 1.1% over the past week.
MemeCore ranks third with a $2.37 billion market cap. However, it showed the weakest performance among the top tokens, falling 4.5% in 24 hours and nearly 19% over seven days.
Meanwhile, Pepe holds a market cap of $1.59 billion. The frog-themed token gained 3.1% in the past 24 hours, though it’s still down 2.5% over the week.
The strongest 24-hour performer was Pump.fun, which jumped 9.3% to trade around $0.0021. It now holds a market cap of $1.24 billion and is up 1.3% over seven days.
Even with the recent bounce, the bigger picture is mixed. While short-term numbers look positive, most meme coins are still under pressure when you zoom out to the weekly charts. Among the top five, only Shiba Inu and Pump.fun have posted gains over the past seven days.
Still, the growing belief that “the meme era is over” might be exactly what some contrarian traders are watching. In crypto markets, extreme pessimism has often come right before surprise rebounds.
For now, meme coins are showing modest recovery — but whether this is a short bounce or the start of something bigger remains to be seen.
