Meme Coins Peak After 17 Days on Average; Only 3% Regain Record Highs

Study of 150 tokens finds a quarter peaked within two days

Average time to a 95% drop from the peak was 370 days

Meme-coin surges were brief, while the declines lasted much longer. It took a median 17 days from the start of trading for tokens to reach their peak, but only about 3% later recovered their previous record highs after plunging, an analysis found.

A report released on October 6 by crypto data firm Coin Metrics found that the median time from the first trade to an all-time high for about 150 meme coins was 17.2 days. A quarter of them peaked in just 1.6 days. The median is the middle value when observations are arranged in order.

By contrast, it took an average of 370 days for prices to fall 95% from their peak. The report defined that state as death. The term was based solely on the size of the price decline, excluding cases involving project shutdowns or delistings.

Recoveries after steep drops were also rare. Some 81% of the tokens studied fell more than 90% from their peak. Only five tokens, or 3.3% of the total, regained their previous highs.

The sample was limited to tokens with prices available on centralized exchanges. Coin Metrics said that excludes countless meme coins that never made it onto exchanges, meaning the actual survival time of newly issued tokens may be shorter than this estimate.

Bloomberg reported on October 15 that attention and speculative capital are also being diverted to artificial intelligence and prediction markets, weakening enthusiasm for meme coins.