On Friday, meme coins such as PEPE, BONK, and Dogecoin were among the best-performing cryptocurrencies on Friday, posting significant gains as the market gears up for 2026.
Important points:
Memecoin’s market capitalization rose 8% to $39.45 billion, the highest level in two weeks, indicating strong demand.
PEPE led the rise with 23.6%, BONK +10% and DOGE +8%. Fueled by influencer hype and bold predictions for 2026.
The surge in memecoin open interest over the past 24 hours reflects growing bullish bets.
Meme coin market cap increases by $3 billion
A recent rise in meme coin prices, as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin switched his profile picture to a meme NFT, pushed the market capitalization to a two-week high of $39.45 billion on Friday.
🚨 Latest: Vitalik Buterin switched his profile picture to Milady NFT, reportedly increasing the minimum price of his collection by around 50%. pic.twitter.com/o2jLYlSDPW
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 2, 2026
The last time the memecoin market cap exceeded $39 billion was on December 20th. The total market value of cryptocurrencies in this sector rose by 8% in the past 24 hours.
Ethereum-based meme coin PEPE led the rally, rising 23.6% in the past 24 hours. BONK, Pepe’s rival in Solana, posted a 10% daily increase, and DOGE, the largest meme coin by market capitalization, rose 8% in the same period.
While not a full-fledged rally, this performance suggests the possibility of a “meme season” triggered by a variety of factors, including the buzz surrounding MemeMax_Fi, a meme coin PERP DEX that allows users to trade with 100x leverage.
“What I love about @MemeMax_Fi is that they understand attention as capital,” trader @ken_w3b3 said in a recent X post, adding:
“Here, a meme is more than just a culture, it’s a system of fluidity, momentum, and community energy.”
Meme coin OI and trading volume skyrocket
Open interest (OI) increased ahead of the memecoin’s rally on Friday, with PEPE seeing an OI increase of 77% to $441 million in the past 24 hours.
Open interest refers to the total amount of pending derivative contracts that have not yet been settled. Futures contracts require a buyer to settle the contract for each seller.
Related: Will Solana be able to shed its meme coin image in 2026?
PENGU’s OI rose more than 27% on the day to $90.73 million, while DOGE’s OI increased about 4.5% to $1.71 billion.
The chart above also reveals a notable increase in the daily trading volume of meme coins in the derivatives market, with PEPE leading the way with a 402% surge. Overall, memecoin’s daily trading volume increased by 35% in the past 24 hours to $4.75 billion.
Increased OI and trading volume for meme coins usually indicates bullish momentum in the market as leveraged traders open more contracts in anticipation of rising prices.
Meme coin technical rally
The current bullish memecoin price is due to a strong technical structure with TOTAL3 (the sum of the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH)), which has seen a significant rise over the past two days.
The graph below shows that TOTAL3 has increased by 22% since Wednesday, reaching an intraday high of $848 billion on Friday. As shown below, this rally occurred within an ascending parallel channel on the 4-hour chart.
Traders bought the dip as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) fell to the oversold level of 25 in mid-December. The RSI reading is currently at 65, suggesting that traders’ interest in the altcoin is increasing as it gains momentum.
If TOTAL3 manages to overcome the strong resistance at $848 billion surrounded by the triangle’s upper trendline and the 200 SMA, it will move higher towards the triangle’s measured target of $900 billion. If that happens, altcoins, including major meme coins, could continue to rise over the coming weeks.
As reported by Cointelegraph, crypto sentiment has finally moved out of “extreme fear” territory, suggesting the market is ready for a recovery.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading moves involve risk and readers should conduct their own research when making decisions. While Cointelegraph strives to provide accurate and timely information, we do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information in this article. This article may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Cointelegraph will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this information.
