Meme cryptocurrencies are tokens born from viral trends, jokes, or online communities, often lacking solid technical fundamentals or practical applications. Despite this, their growth is usually driven by the FOMO effect (fear of missing out), social movements, and celebrity influence, as seen with Elon Musk and Dogecoin.

Why are they so volatile?

1. Low capitalization (at first): Many meme cryptos start with a small market capitalization, making them more susceptible to large price movements with relatively low volumes.

2. Mass speculation: Without a real use or clear intrinsic value, their price depends almost entirely on market sentiment. If a celebrity tweets something positive, the price can skyrocket. If the hype dies down, it plummets.

3. Low liquidity in some cases: This can cause sharp movements when large whales buy or sell.

4. Market manipulation: They are often targets of "pump and dump" schemes, where a group artificially inflates the price to then sell at the peak, leaving small investors trapped.

Real cases of volatility

• Dogecoin went from being worth less than $0.01 to over $0.70 in 2021, driven by the community and tweets from Elon Musk. It then fell by more than 90%.

• Shiba Inu, considered the "killer