Thomas Daniels
Shiba Inu (SHIB) is facing a prolonged bear market, with its price plunging over 71% from its yearly high, positioning it among the most underperforming assets in the crypto space. As of Tuesday, September 17, SHIB was trading at $0.000013, highlighting weakening demand. Recent third-party data shows that SHIB’s 24-hour trading volume stands at just $177 million, significantly trailing behind competitors like Pepe ($747 million) and Dogwifhat ($290 million). Other meme tokens, such as Baby Doge Coin and Neiro, also outpaced SHIB, with volumes reaching $205 million and $364 million, respectively.
Further underscoring SHIB’s struggles, open interest in Shiba Inu futures has stagnated at $24 million, sharply down from its year-to-date peak of $137 million. This stagnation comes amid a broader shift in the meme coin sector, driven by the rise of platforms like Pump.fun and SunPump, which have made launching new tokens easier for developers. These platforms have collectively garnered market capitalizations exceeding $1 billion, with popular meme coins like Sundog, Tron Bull, and Bonk dominating market activity.
Despite the bearish sentiment, Shiba Inu’s token burn strategy continues at a rapid pace. Data from Shibburn reveals that the burn rate surged by 440% in the past 24 hours, eliminating over 28.2 million SHIB tokens, bringing the total number of burned coins to more than 410 trillion. While token burns are generally seen as positive, aimed at reducing supply and potentially boosting prices, Shiba Inu’s ecosystem remains lackluster. Shibarium, its Layer 2 network, holds assets worth just $1.17 million, and ShibaSwap, the decentralized exchange, has only $15.64 million in assets, according to DeFi Llama.
From a technical perspective, Shiba Inu’s outlook is clouded by bearish signals. In July, SHIB’s 50-day moving average crossed below the 200-day moving average, forming a death cross—a bearish signal that has coincided with a 30% price drop. More recently, the coin has formed a descending triangle pattern, with the lower boundary at $0.0000126, a chart formation often signaling further downside. Should SHIB breach this level, the token could slide toward its next key support at $0.000010, a potential 20% decline from its current price.
