Memecoins sprint past bitcoin and ether as “barbell strategy” pays off
By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
Bitcoin’s latest rally has lifted the market, but the biggest winners over the past 24 hours were not the blue chips. Bitcoin climbed more than 2%, trading around $73,470 and briefly topping $74,300 early Monday — its highest level since February. Ether gained about 7%, XRP and Solana each rose over 4%, and the CoinDesk 20 Index added nearly 4%.
Still, the standout performers were memecoins. PEPE led the top 100 with a 19% surge; BONK and PENGU each jumped more than 10%, and SHIB also outpaced ether’s gain. In fact, five of the day’s best-performing tokens were memecoins — a pattern that has become increasingly common since 2023–24.
Traders and observers call this the “barbell strategy”: one end of the portfolio holds a “serious” asset such as bitcoin, which is seeing growing institutional adoption, while the other end is deployed into highly speculative, small-cap memecoins and altcoins. That approach differs from the last crypto bull market, when BTC-led rallies more consistently lifted productive sectors like DeFi and play-to-earn projects.
One driver behind the absence of a broad-based “alt season” is sheer supply. CoinMarketCap data show the total number of tokens ballooned past 37.8 million in roughly three years, spreading investor demand across thousands of projects and diluting concentration in any one alternative sector.
Some in the market are looking to U.S. policy — specifically the proposed Clarity Act — to restore confidence and catalyze a wider market upswing. Others warn that the window for decisive regulatory action is narrowing.
Outside crypto, S&P 500 futures were firmer as oil tested the $100 mark. Nvidia’s GTC conference kicked off Monday; CEO Jensen Huang’s updates on AI and data-center demand are being watched closely by crypto firms that rely on large-scale infrastructure.
For deeper breakdowns of today’s altcoin moves and derivatives activity, see Crypto Markets Today. For a calendar of upcoming industry catalysts, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Week Ahead.
Data note: treasury and spot ETF holdings referenced in coverage are sourced from Farside Investors.
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