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The meme coin market has cooled after a volatile start to 2026; however, Santiment says trader sentiment now resembles a capitulation phase. In its February 14 weekly crypto summary, Santiment wrote that many traders treat meme coins “as if it is permanently dead,” and it called the mood a “classic capitulation signal.”
Santiment linked the shift to social narratives that assume the “end of the meme era.” It said markets often reward contrarian positioning when the crowd writes off an entire segment.
Santiment described a “growing narrative of ‘nostalgia’” around meme coins. It said that traders now speak about the sector with resignation rather than expectation.
The firm suggests this attitude as an indicator that selling pressure may have already done most of its damage. It also urged market participants to track sectors “the crowd has left for dead.”
Santiment also highlighted broader fear in the crypto market. It reported a bullish-to-bearish comment ratio below 1, which means bearish comments outnumber bullish ones.
In the section, the ratio is placed at about 0.89. Santiment added that disbelief can persist even during early rebounds, which can support trend continuation if demand holds.
Price trackers show the meme coin segment remains sizable despite the drawdowns and rotations. CoinGecko indicated the meme category market cap at $34,940,351,096, with a 4.8% gain over the last 24 hours.
That total reflects a broad set of meme-related tokens across chains, which often respond quickly to liquidity and retail activity.
Within the category, larger tokens still control most of the value. CoinMarketCap listed Dogecoin with a market cap of about $16.52 billion and Shiba Inu at about $3.79 billion at the time of capture.
CoinMarketCap also showed OFFICIAL TRUMP near $800.28 million and pippin near $617.83 million in market cap, illustrating how quickly leadership can shift among smaller meme assets.
Santiment’s framework emphasizes social and on-chain behavior, not just price. It highlighted “Meme coin peaks” as a term trending in social narratives, which it treats as a sign of emotional extremes.
It also pointed to the imbalance in bullish versus bearish commentary as a measurable gauge of crowd positioning.
Traders often pair volume trends with sentiment and Bitcoin stability to judge risk appetite. In that setup, meme coins tend to react faster than large caps when liquidity returns, but they also retrace quickly when the market de-risks.
Also Read: Crypto News Today: Solana Rebounds as Bitcoin Holds Above $68K, Are Altcoins Shifting the Narrative?
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