Crypto exchange Bybit recently released a report highlighting how much institutional investors have invested in meme coins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. The platform revealed that these investors have been actively trading these meme coins since the start of the year and noted what specific meme coins they are currently holding.
How Institutional Investors Have Been Going All In On Meme Coins
According to the report, institutional investors began accumulating meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Pepe (PEPE) between February and March, around when the meme coin trend began to pick up. Their spot holdings in these meme coins are said to have increased by 226% to $204 million.
These institutional investors didn’t stop there. In April, they accumulated more of these meme coins, with their total meme coin holdings rising to $293.7 million. However, these investors looked to have exited their positions as the sentiment around meme coins peaked, with their meme coin holdings dropping to $139 million by May.
These investors are believed to have taken some profits in anticipation of the prices of these meme coins dropping due to a wave of profit-taking. Meanwhile, these investors investing heavily in these meme coins in the first place again highlight the broad adoption that this category of crypto tokens has begun to enjoy since the beginning of the year.
The interest in these meme coins among institutional investors was also evident when asset manager VanEck launched a meme coin index to track the performance of the foremost meme coins. This index includes Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), Dogwifhat (WIF), Floki (FLOKI), and Bonk (BONK).
Bybit revealed that retail investors have also been heavily invested in these meme coins, with their holdings rising by 478% from February to April. Like institutional investors, these retail investors also sold off a significant portion of their holdings, reducing their meme coin allocation from $567 million to $371 million.
Dogecoin Tops Meme Coin Holdings Of Institutional And Retail Investors
Bybit mentioned that Dogecoin is the largest among the meme coin holdings of these institutional and retail investors. Institutional investors are said to have allocated more to the largest meme coin by market cap than retail investors, with Dogecoin accounting for 36.17% of their holdings. In comparison, DOGE only accounts for 24.58% of the meme coin holdings of retail investors.
Both categories of investors are believed to have favored Dogecoin more due to its “higher liquidity and relative stability.” Meanwhile, Ethereum-based meme coins Shiba Inu and Pepe also account for a significant portion of institutional and retail investors’ meme coin holdings.
Shiba Inu and PEPE account for 20.95% and 14.61% of retail’s meme coin portfolio. On the other hand, institutions have invested 22.23% and 10.39% of their meme coin holdings in Shiba Inu and PEPE, respectively. Solana-based meme coin BONK was the most favored among the newer meme coins, with retail allocating $136 million to the meme coin while institutions allocated $74.5 million.
