Meme is dead? Looking for new opportunities at the bottom of sentiment
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Meme is dead? Looking for new opportunities at the bottom of sentiment
There are always countless trading opportunities in the market; the key lies in identifying those trades that haven't yet been crowded.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: @Ga__ke
Translation: Scof, ChainCatcher
It's been a while since I've written anything. Looking back at my trading mindset in 2024, some of my views on meme coin selection still hold true—but now it feels like we’ve entered an entirely new era. In 2024, we witnessed a clear market evolution: pure memes → celebrity coins → art tokens → AI/tech/utility tokens. Back then, shifts in market focus were relatively distinct—there was usually a clear timeline and boundary marking when and which theme would become the next big thing.
However, fast forward to 2025, and what we see is a chaotic token landscape: past hype projects are all fighting for attention—many once surged, but most have since pulled back 70–90%. Sadly, those still holding on are often just the "last bagholders" or seasoned players cycling in and out, waiting for the next pump cycle. Of course, these projects aren’t necessarily scams—they’re more like a game of “musical chairs.” The market (or rather, players) always chases the newest trend unless there’s a strong reason to revisit older ones.
Meanwhile, brand-new meme narratives and tech concepts are fiercely competing, making the market structure even more complex. The groundwork for “attention tokenization” across various industries was laid in 2024, and Trump’s “official” token essentially gave a green light to the entire ecosystem—both good and bad projects alike. Amid this chaos, we’re now seeing multiple themes and tokens at different lifecycle stages coexisting simultaneously. Yet we must recognize—one key truth—is that market liquidity, much like human attention, is cyclical. Today’s headline story could be forgotten tomorrow, and no one can predict with certainty what will capture interest next (laughs).
Therefore, tokens from various categories will continue to coexist, each going through their own liquidity cycles. What does this mean? Remember this chart?
Now imagine this as the price chart of a single token. Then flip it upside down—and suddenly, it becomes another token’s price action.
Now go further: mentally overlay countless such charts together. Keep in mind there are 112,931,920,482 tokens on blockchain, each with its own peaks and troughs. At the same time, entire sectors are at different phases—one hitting nadir, another reaching zenith.
My core point is: there are always endless trading opportunities in the market; the key lies in identifying trades that haven’t yet been overcrowded. Sure, the vast majority of tokens may ultimately amount to nothing, but you can at least add them to your watchlist, leave yourself a note, or set price alerts so you can revisit them at the right moment.
In 2024, we covered nearly every major attention-tokenization vertical. I mentioned several key categories before—I’ll expand on them now. Some projects won’t survive a week; others that once shined have already bottomed out.
1. Pure Meme Coins—These tokens exist purely for fun, typically born from viral trends on X (Twitter) or TikTok, or nostalgic internet culture. The “copypasta” mechanic and viral flywheel effects are strongest here.
2. Celebrity Coins—Tokens built around influential individuals. Many rely heavily on fan-driven speculation. While this space is full of “cash grab” projects, it also creates an opportunity window—because they can “onboard mainstream users into crypto.”
3. Art Tokens—Tokens backed by artistic value, in a way representing an evolution of the NFT community.
4. AI / Tech / Utility Tokens—These tokens carry some technological or functional premise, at least conceptually. I once said I’d never trade these, but markets evolve and so must we. Often, the market values “technological promise” over actual technology—put differently, it’s about selling the news, or the idea of the news (sell the news / the idea of the news).
5. Web2 Community Tokens (Communities / Web2)—Similar to celebrity coins, but rooted in existing Web2 communities, leveraging established fanbases to project into Web3.
6. News / Tweet-Based Tokens (News / Tweets)—Fast speculative plays tied to short-term events or viral tweets, capable of quickly setting a new “meta.” These tokens usually spike rapidly and crash just as fast. They might get a second wind, but don’t FOMO too hard during the first surge, or you risk getting stuck.
The above categories aren't exhaustive—they're simply my attempt to simplify analysis. Will new categories emerge? I hope so—new metas often bring the highest returns. But as previously noted, because different types of tokens are now establishing themselves at varying lifecycle stages, boundaries between categories are blurring. Combined with post-Trump-token-hype cooling, we’re seeing more bearish sentiment (“bearposting”). Indeed, it’s hard to imagine what could possibly surpass that level of excitement. At least for now, I personally don’t see a clear direction ahead.
Still, I welcome this slowing rhythm. As someone who leans more toward being a holder than a trader, I benefit more in such environments—the market gradually reverts to dominance by Types 1, 3, and 4 tokens, which tend to move slower, be community-driven, and grow more organically.
When selecting meme coins, many of my 2024 strategies still apply—especially for Types 1 and 3. But with increasing numbers of tokens down over 90%, fresh entry opportunities arise. Below are potential catalysts to watch:
1. Community Expansion: Who could become future supporters of this token? Often, they don’t even need to buy—the mere market expectation that they might buy can drive price increases. For example, MLG sat dormant for seven months until it was revived and eventually caught the eye of influencers like Faze. Core strategy: craft a compelling narrative and leverage the “attention flywheel” (sell the story and the idea of an attention flywheel).
2. Current Community / Team Status: Is development still ongoing? (Is the tek still tekking?) Are devs still active? (Is dev still devving?) Is the community still engaged? (Is community still vibing?) For classic meme coins, I recommend evaluating community resilience during market pullbacks. For Type 4 tokens (tech/utility), dig deeper into project progress—look for signs of increasing funding and attention. This growth doesn’t always show up immediately in market cap, creating arbitrage opportunities.
3. Mainstream Media Coverage: Similar to community expansion, but focused on traditional media spotlighting specific events. Examples include political discourse around pnut, sustained coverage of moo deng, or traditional finance (TradFi) shifting focus toward certain sectors (e.g., AI/robotics). Essentially, this means positioning ahead of news cycles—but the key is: expectations shouldn’t be too obvious, otherwise the trade gets crowded too early.
As with any trade, enter before the crowd and exit gradually as it fills up. At each stage, ask: Who are the marginal buyers? Is this story still compelling?
Potential risks to keep in mind:
1. Position Sizing: You might have 312,849 reasons to believe a token will explode—but do you actually have enough capital to allocate properly? Recognize that money invested in these projects may never return, so maintain sufficient liquidity to participate in current mainstream trends and hot tokens. On the bright side, if you bought near the bottom, even failed projects likely won’t cause massive drawdowns. But spreading funds across 1,293 tokens? That could become a serious problem.
2. Moat / Legitimacy: You might strongly believe a token should revive, and market trends seem to align with your thesis—then suddenly, someone launches a brand-new token, and all capital floods into that instead! This is the sad reality of the Pump.fun era, where anyone—even completely blockchain-illiterate people—can launch a token effortlessly. That’s why we’re flooded with 12,312 “broccolis” and 12,903 “neiros.” Solution? If you truly believe in your thesis, spread your bets across all plausible options and patiently wait for the market to pick a winner. If your positions are too fragmented, consider recovering initial cost early, then wait for the market to crown a champion before doubling down. My personal example: chillguy vs mnc—the market will ultimately decide the victor.
I know this approach isn’t for everyone. There are countless ways to make—or lose—money in this market. At best, you’ll be seen as a genius; at worst, it’s self-delusion. But repeated experience has shown me that paying attention to forgotten corners, camping on post-hype tokens, works for me. As I write this, a random Fortnite-related token exemplifies this pattern—and we’ve seen similar cases many times before.
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@Ga__ke
