Solana Pump.fun tokens hit record-low trading volumes since Christmas – Is the meme craze fading?

• Solana Pump.fun tokens trading volume dropped by 81% in two weeks. 
• The weak sentiment is part of a broader altcoin market rout. 

Solana[SOL] Pump.fun tokens, mostly dominated by meme coins, have lost significant traction in February.

Notably, in mid-January, Pump.fun tokens’ trading volume peaked at $3.1B on Raydium, a decentralized exchange.  

Two weeks later, the ecosystem’s trading volume dropped to $569M — a whopping 81% decline. 

Source: The Block

It’s worth pointing out that the mid-January massive volume also coincided with the TRUMP and MELANIA meme-coin launch. TRUMP briefly hit $75B in FDV (fully diluted value) while MELANIA pumped to $13B FDV.

Both were launched on Solana and contributed to the massive volume seen in January. However, they also sucked liquidity from other tokens.

The estimated $10B broader market de-leveraging event in early February, dented the market sentiment further. 

The broader altcoin market weakens

To put the recent liquidation cascade into perspective, the altcoin market lost $234B in two weeks.

Simply put, the muted memecoin trading volume is part of a broader market slowdown after a massive liquidation event and macro uncertainty. 

Source: Glassnode

Since last December, the altcoin market cap has dropped from $1.896T to $1.450T. Nearly $450B has been wiped from the sector in the past two months.

Despite the decline, some top Pump.fun gems with considerable dominance were within the AI/DeFAI narrative.

Fartcoin topped the chart, while AI Rig Complex (ARC) came in second. Other AI tokens like Griffain and ACT were within the top 10 Pump.fun tokens by market cap.

Source: Coingecko

Given that the AI narrative dominates the ecosystem, they could recover faster if the market sentiment improves than other traditional memecoins.