Market interest in memecoins is cooling, and analyst Vlad Anderson says this shift shows up in both price action and capital flows. Investor attention is rotating toward sectors like artificial intelligence, which are attracting stronger momentum and inflows.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), a standout in the 2024 meme-driven rally, now reflects that slowdown. After climbing more than 300% last year, SHIB has retraced roughly 88% from its peak. Since the start of the year the token has been in a sustained downtrend, consistently printing lower highs.
Currently trading around $0.0000058, SHIB is moving in a tight range between $0.000005 and $0.0000065. That consolidation suggests short-term stability but also a lack of decisive direction from market participants.
On-chain and technical indicators mirror this indecision. Volatility has compressed into a Bollinger Bands squeeze while inflows remain muted and Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is in negative territory. In short, buyers lack conviction to drive a breakout, and sellers haven’t fully regained control.
SHIB has stayed in the spotlight at times due to notable ecosystem events. One high-profile moment was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin addressing the transfer of 500 trillion SHIB from Ryoshi, the pseudonymous founder of the Shiba Inu project. That massive transaction drew attention for its scale and for what it revealed about token distribution and the optics of large transfers in decentralized networks.
Speculation has also grown over the possibility of Shiba Inu becoming the second memecoin, after Dogecoin, to secure a spot ETF. That narrative gained traction after regulatory signals suggested assets like SHIB might be treated more as commodities than securities. While not an immediate catalyst, such a shift could influence institutional interest over time.
For now, SHIB sits at a crossroads: technically compressed, sentiment subdued, and awaiting a clear trigger to define its next major move.
