Shiba Inu (SHIB) has ridden a fresh wave of speculative buying this week, with the token jumping nearly 16% while the broader meme coin sector surged.
According to Santiment, total meme coin valuation rose by about 23% over the period as traders piled back into higher-risk tokens.
Trading volumes jumped from $2.16 billion to roughly $8.6 billion, a whopping increase that shows how fast money rotated into this corner of the market.
Supply Concentration Raises Eyebrows
Reports have disclosed that supply remains highly concentrated among a handful of wallets. The top 10 holders control over 60% of SHIB’s maximum supply, which equals around 1 quadrillion tokens.
Meme coins, the most “speculative” of assets, have proceeded with their post-holiday run. The entire meme market cap is now above $45.3B, growing by +20.8% in just the past week.
Notable 7-day gainers include:
$PEPE +54%
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 4, 2026
Those wallets together hold about 630 trillion SHIB. Based on Santiment’s figures, the official burn wallet alone holds roughly 40% of the total supply, a stake valued at over $3 billion. This kind of concentration can magnify price swings if large holders move coins onto exchanges or sell.
Technical Setup Points To A Test
Analyst Charting Guy flagged the token’s weekly chart as “looking good” in a January 4 tweet, noting a strong weekly candle that closed up 22%. Based on reports, SHIB started 2026 at $0.000006904 and has since pushed higher.
$SHIB weekly looks good pic.twitter.com/YigTTQ3kEW
— Charting Guy (@ChartingGuy) January 4, 2026
The meme coin briefly traded above $0.0000093 before a pullback and is currently around $0.000008766. Year-to-date gains sit near 64% and the token was up 2.14% over the past 24 hours and 15.7% over the last week.
Charting Guy’s chart shows SHIB approaching the tip of a long-running descending trendline that traces back to a high of $0.0000334 in December 2024. A break above that line would raise the chance of a larger move higher.
Meme Coins See Wide Gains
Other tokens have also posted big moves. Dogecoin recorded about a 20% rise while Pepe surged roughly 65% over the same span. The group’s sharp gains came as speculative interest accelerated and traders chased short-term returns.
Market Volume And Trader Behavior
Santiment’s data highlights that trading activity spiked dramatically, signaling a swift return of hot money to meme coins. The jump from $2.17 billion to $8.7 billion in daily traded value shows more participants are active and willing to take bigger risks.
Based on the mix of heavy supply concentration and a crowded technical setup, Shiba Inu’s path could widen in either direction. A decisive breakout above the descending trendline might extend last week’s rally, while heavy selling from large wallets could trigger sharp pullbacks.
Featured image from Gemini, chart from TradingView
