
Meme coins are capturing the headlines, and speculative trading is picking up throughout the market. PEPE, FLOKI, and SHIB tokens have become outstanding in terms of performance, as all of them have demonstrated significant growth in their prices and open interest levels within the last few months. These trends indicate an uptake in leveraged trading with its quick-gain frenzy and buy-and-sell dynamics fuelled by retail interest.
Thanks to the increased activity, price volatility, and open interest, PEPE has been one of the most-followed meme coins in 2024 and in mid-2025. Its price and the open interest were relatively flat in the earlier section of the time frame. There was low trading, especially during most of 2023, and participation in the market remained low.
The shift in the market started in March 2024. The price and the open interest of PEPE started to rise, and both became marked with a sharp increase. These waves usually indicate that traders were going into leveraged positions, which involved using short-term money to bet on profits. The biggest boom occurred in July 2025, when the open interest was moving near the 1 billion dollar point. During this stage, the price rose dramatically only to experience a rapid adjustment.
Floki (FLOKI) still sees the tendency of periodic price surges combined with a significant increase in open interest. From the beginning of 2023 to the middle of 2024, FLOKI had a few periods of rising price and OI alongside. Such rallies often resulted in sharp falls, and this indicates liquidation activities or profit taking by some market participants.
Each trading cycle in FLOKI’s history suggests that the asset remains influenced by short-term sentiment. The correlation between its open interest and price confirms that traders are using leverage during market upswings. This kind of trading behavior tends to amplify volatility, particularly when bullish momentum reverses quickly.
Shiba Inu (SHIB) has remained active across multiple phases of speculative market cycles. The chart shows that SHIB experienced a major breakout around October, when open interest climbed above $200 million. This period saw an intense inflow of leveraged capital and a price spike that was short-lived. Following this rally, both price and open interest dropped rapidly, indicating heavy liquidation or fast profit-taking by participants.
SHIB has continued to see smaller bursts of activity. Traders have responded to price movements with new leveraged positions, which are shown in the corresponding increases in open interest. Each spike in open interest matches a price rise, followed by a decline. These moves show the persistence of speculative trading around SHIB, even when long-term momentum remains limited.