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Bitcoin and Ether Prices Fall as SHIB Drives Meme Token Gains
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Bitcoin and Ether prices fell slightly, while meme tokens recorded significant gains.
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The surge in meme coins, such as the shiba inu, was likely driven by Asian traders and linked to excitement over a potential shift in favor of cryptocurrencies by US regulators.
Bitcoin {{BTC}} and Ether {{ETH}} prices fell just over 1% in the past 24 hours as cryptocurrency markets remained mostly muted following last week’s rally.
With major tokens like Solana’s SOL, BNB Chain’s XRP and BNB little changed, the meme coin sector has generated the biggest gains for traders among categories tracked by CoinGecko, including the shiba inu {{SHIB}} which rises up to 12%. The wide base CoinDesk 20 (CD20)an index of larger tokens that omits stablecoins, lost 0.5%.
A surge in dogecoin {{DOGE}} and SHIB began during the European afternoon hours on Tuesday as shares of video game retailer GameStop (GME) rose 19% in pre-market trading, a signal that has it has historically led to gains in meme tokens.
“Popular memes are circulating mainly due to Asian traders entering the market again: Most tend to see their prices rise more significantly during Asian trading hours, overnight in the US time zone, ” said Rennick Palley, founding partner of the Stratos cryptocurrency fund. in a statement sent via email.
“This is a result of the excitement around the ETH ETF and the regulatory shift in the US to become more pro-crypto,” Palley added.
AS previously reported, meme tokens like pepe {{PEPE}} and mog (MOG) have surged as much as 100% in the past week as a beta bet on the Ethereum ecosystem. This comes on the heels of the US approval for listing of a spot ether exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Bitcoin, meanwhile, remains in a bearish trading range despite recent volatility, according to FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich.
“A clear exit and daily close above $70,000 will break this bearish pattern. Until then, the classic development is a pullback towards the lower range around $68,000,” he said in a Telegram interview.