Shiba Inu’s price has been confined to a narrow range, underperforming compared to newer meme coins like Popcat, Neiro, and SPX6900. As of October 9, Shiba Inu (SHIB) was trading at $0.00001718, down 21% from its peak earlier this month, signaling a potential local bear market.
This decline is attributed to a shift in investor focus toward emerging meme coins that are delivering substantial returns. Notably, SPX6900 has surged over 300% in the past week, reaching a market cap of more than $562 million. Popcat, a notable meme coin on the Solana network, has skyrocketed by over 13,500% since its January lows, with other strong performers including Neiro, Gigachad, and Apu Apustaja.
Shiba Inu’s struggles are compounded by dwindling activity on Shibarium, its layer-2 network. Data from ShibariumScan indicates that active accounts have fallen below 500, with only 33 new accounts created on October 8. Additionally, the average transaction fee on Shibarium has plummeted to 0.005 BONE, a 91% drop from last month’s peak of 0.062 BONE, alongside a reduction in overall transactions.
These transaction volumes are crucial for Shiba Inu, as a portion of BONE fees is converted into SHIB and subsequently burned. Furthermore, open interest in Shiba Inu futures has also decreased sharply, dropping to $44 million from a high of $70 million earlier this month.
On the technical front, Shiba Inu has shown some resilience, bouncing back from its August 5 low of $0.00000108 and maintaining its position above the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages. The MACD indicator remains above the zero line, suggesting potential for further movement.
For a bullish outlook, SHIB must break above the key resistance level of $0.0000187, its highest swing recorded on October 6. A successful breach of this level could indicate further upside, potentially reaching $0.000021, last seen on September 27.