Meme coin prices collapsed on Thursday, erasing most of the gains made during the Santa Claus rally on Christmas Eve.
Farcoin (FARTCOIN), one of the leading coins in the Solana ecosystem, fell 16.8%, making it one of the biggest laggards.
Floki (FLOKI) fell 4.5%, while Shiba Inu (SHIB) fell 6.5%. Other major laggards in the coin industry were Brett, Mog Coin and Popcat (POPCAT).
PENGU was the only major meme coin in the green, up 6% overall sales jumped by 127% in the last 24 hours to reach $6.1 million.
Meme coins pulled back due to risk-averse sentiment in the crypto industry as most coins fell. Bitcoin fell to $95,000, while the market cap of all coins fell to $3.32 trillion. Altcoins, especially highly volatile meme coins, often fall sharply when Bitcoin is not doing well.
Meme coins and other altcoins also fell as liquidity in the crypto industry plummeted due to the Christmas holidays. Data shows that most cryptocurrencies are experiencing low volume as most investors and traders remain on vacation. Bitcoin had 24-hour volume of $33.96 million on Thursday, the lowest level since November 3.
Other meme coins also had lower volume. Floki’s 24-hour volume was $238 million, its lowest level in over a month. Similarly, Fartcoin’s volume was $187 million, while Shiba Inu’s volume was $576 million. Cryptocurrency prices often experience significant swings in either direction when volume is limited.
Meme coin prices are also falling as investors continue to take profits after most of them rose sharply during the year. Floki peaked at $0.0002885 in November, 200% higher than its August low, while Shiba Inu hit $0.000033.
Additionally, concerns remain regarding Federal Reservewhich suggested that it would only make two interest rate cuts in 2025. This hawkish orientation pushed bond yields higher, with the 10-year rising to 4.63% and the 30-year and 5 years increasing to 4.8% and 4.50%, respectively. Cryptocurrency prices and stocks often fall when bond yields rise.