Meme coin season is back again and the hype is tangible. With thousands of brand new crypto tokens launching on Ethereum, Solana and EVM Layer-2 networks, many traders have been blindly filling their bags with dogs, cats, wassies (don’t ask), and even political figures. 

But what’s the draw of meme coins, why are some meme coins going up while others are flat, and more importantly is it time for you to get involved? 

What are meme coins

Meme coins are speculative cryptocurrencies that derive their value from cultural significance, rather than utility. There is no investment rulebook to follow, and most meme coins never make it, but a few exceptional examples have helped propel meme coins into the mainstream.

The premise of a meme coin is that it is ridiculous, built around funny, shocking or perplexing themes. They tend to be clones of existing cryptocurrencies, with minor changes made to the name, ticker, logo and supply, and are often issued in the billions to keep the price of tokens low and more appealing to buyers. 

Meme culture is like an old joke or the hook of a pop song - a self-contained idea that is instantly recognizable, easily understood, and gets stuck in your head. While most meme coins never get the attention they seek, they are built for virality and little more.

How many meme coins are there

The exact number of meme coins is impossible to know. There are tens of thousands of tokens in circulation that were created as a joke, and many more still with no liquidity available. A good meme coin is usually the first to tokenize a trend, often inspired by non-crypto events, and may inspire hundreds of imitators if successful. 

On Matcha, you’ll find every meme coin that launched on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, or any of the other networks we support. But don’t get ahead of yourself; the chances of finding the next Degen, Dogwifhat, or Pepe are slim. Just because you like the meme, doesn’t mean others will!

The first meme coin

Dogecoin, a bitcoin fork which launched in 2013, was the first major meme coin. It tapped into the popularity of a meme of a carefree, somewhat awkward Shiba Inu. At the time, Bitcoin had moved to dedicated mining hardware (ASICs) while Dogecoin could be mined on a regular CPU or GPU. This meant that Dogecoin was widely accessible and its popularity exploded on Reddit and other forums. 

The memetics of Dogecoin helped it build a culture of its own, attracting both speculators as well as people who were in it solely for fun. It played a significant role in building awareness for cryptocurrency, establishing some of the earliest crypto-funded humanitarian projects, sponsoring a Nascar team, and balancing out the seriousness of crypto discourse, which set the stage for Elon Musk’s endorsement many years later. 

Why are meme coins going up?

Some are, many aren’t. The meme coin sector has seen total market cap more than double in March, but a lot of this comes from just a handful of coins sweeped up in current trends.

New meme coins tend to have low market capitalization and high token supply. That means less capital needs to flow in or out to move the token price, while a large circulating supply of billions of coins means buyers can purchase tens of thousands of tokens for relatively small dollar amounts, triggering a positive psychological response.

Another reason meme coins seem to be flourishing is that it is now easier than ever to deploy new tokens from a technology and cost standpoint, and with more projects around it is simply more likely for one or two memes to tickle the zeitgeist.

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This year’s meme season is being led by tokens on Layer-2 networks and other low-fee chains such as Solana. High gas fees on Ethereum mainnet make it expensive to deploy meme coins, and it doesn’t make sense for small-time speculators to spend a chunk of their investment on transaction fees. 

As the bull market warms up, speculators old and new are becoming more active and unlocking their sidelined capital. This leads to more noise, more random pumps, and may give the impression that sectors such as meme coins are gaining intrinsic value. 

More likely, however, is that meme traders are simply looking for ways to amplify their profits by taking bets on all sorts of tokens, hoping to flip them for more established assets like ETH, BTC, or USDC. 

Where to buy meme coins

It can be hard to find meme coins before they gain widespread popularity. Centralized exchanges only tend to list tokens which already have a significant amount of traction, so to find newer projects you need to look onchain. 

That means using decentralized exchanges (DEXs), platforms that enable onchain trading, but only if liquidity has been added for the token you want to trade. 

Matcha aggregates hundreds of DEXs in one place to give you access to over 5 million tokens, including meme coins, within minutes of launch! Find what you’re looking for with a single search and start trading it right away, at the best prices available. 

How to buy meme coins

Depending on the coin you’re interested in, and how much you plan to trade, there are a few things to consider.

DEX or CEX? As mentioned above, DEXs and DEX aggregators will usually be the first place a new meme coin is listed. If you are new to crypto and have only used a CEX, you will need to wait for the token to be listed, or consider withdrawing your funds to self custody. See our roundup of the best decentralized exchanges to decide where to trade.

Limit orders or market swaps? Meme coins tend to be volatile, so you will want to decide whether to trade instantly using a token swap, or to set a limit order and wait for the price to reach a level that suits you. Matcha offers both for free! 

What network is the token on? Meme coins are most common on L2 chains and Solana, but can also be on different networks. Matcha supports 7 million tokens across 7 networks so you can find every token in one place.

Do you have enough gas to trade? If the token you want is on a network you haven’t used before, you may need a native gas token to trade. Use a cross chain swap to top up, or swap without gas using Matcha Auto.

Finding new meme coins early

Meme coins feed on virality, so meme traders tend to speculate on newer tokens with low market caps. These tools can help identify new coins, though it should be stressed that the majority of new tokens do not gain traction.

Matcha trending tokens: the Matcha homepage has a section dedicated to trending tokens, which can be filtered by network. This is refreshed every few minutes to let you discover new trends as they happen! Recent trades also give you a realtime look into what other users are buying.

DEX Screener new pairs: A dashboard showing a list of tokens discovered in the last day, with key metrics to help you filter by age, volume, price and more. 

Memes are fun but often fleeting

Putting money into a meme coin can be fun, but speculating on the price of a meme is a gamble. Inexplicable breakouts and massive profits on certain tokens will continue to make headlines as meme coin season continues, but these are exceptions rather than a rule. 

A decade on, Dogecoin is still the most popular meme coin, having outlived the meme it was originally based on. It has become a meta meme of sorts, gaining notoriety as the first financial asset based on a joke. Whether other meme coins will see the same longevity is yet to be seen.

Whatever you want to trade, meme or not, you can find it on Matcha, with deep liquidity and the best value. Try Matcha today!