Former president Donald Trump survived yet another suspected assassination attempt over the weekend. But this time political meme coins related to the Republican nominee have tanked over the week, causing some traders to question the dynamic between meme coin prices and relevant news events.
After the first Trump assassination attempt, Solana meme coin TREMP jumped 71% over the following 24 hours, with TRUMP up 39% and MAGA also climbing 33%. In contrast, TREMP is down 5% over the past 24 hours, TRUMP is down 19%, and MAGA has dipped just 1% since the attempted Sunday attack. The weekly losses are even worse, according to CoinGecko data.
This has sparked debate on whether political meme coins have started to lose their shine as the U.S. presidential election nears.
“Realistically, that event should’ve been a catalyst for an influx of buy-side volume, yet no one was interested,” pseudonymous trader Bastille told Decrypt. “[I think it’s] just a general deterioration of retail interest towards an oversaturated meta.”
Although the aforementioned meme coins are three of the largest unofficial tribute tokens pegged to Donald Trump, there are countless other smaller coins—but there’s been no consistency in how they reacted to the golf course attack. For example, Fight to MAGA (FIGHT), a token created as the result of the first assassination attempt, is up 13% on the day. Meanwhile, Pepe Trump (PTRUMP) is down nearly 18%.
Political meme coins, by nature, are likely to be more relevant during election season and could lose a large amount of attention once that date passes. Traders call these “event coins,” meaning they are more strongly affected by price action as they get closer to the set date. Another example is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“People sell in impatience when they realize price isn’t being actively impacted by the outcome or event,” pseudonymous meme coin trader 0xWinged told Decrypt. “Always fade those coins. I do.”
Bastille also claims that large political meme coins are filled with overexposed whales that look to exit whenever they can. As the election nears, these whales will be looking for exit liquidity. In other words, events that attract attention—such as an assassination attempt—become ideal times for whales to dump their bags.
Furthermore, this attempt was less surprising and attention grabbing than the first, the traders said. The attempt in July was broadcast live on television with an accompanying iconic photo that was spread across the world—even making its way into the biggest Telegram crypto game.
“The hype and randomness of the [first] assassination [attempt] saw multiple meme coins surrounding this send to centimillions,” Bastille explained. “You can’t repeat this.”
Odds that Trump will win the presidential election against Kamala Harris also were unchanged on crypto prediction market Polymarket from 24 hours ago, with Harris edging ahead of Trump at 50% to 49% amid only slight shifts over the span.
Edited by Andrew Hayward