Cryptocurrencies to watch: Week of May 8
Keep an eye on these coins
In the past week, the crypto market was generally down – with one notable exception. Meme coins, popular but risky cryptocurrencies, sometimes depicted with comical or animated memes, which are supported by enthusiastic online followers but may have little or no intrinsic value, saw large price increases.
Important takeaways
- Meme coin PEPE was the biggest gainer this week, with its price more than doubling while remaining below 1 cent. Investors may have bought it as a cash.
- The price of the FLOKI token increased by almost 50%, perhaps also benefiting from the recent high demand for meme coins.
- Stacks (STX) rose more than 10%, possibly because more non-fungible tokens (NFTs) minted Bitcoin, some of which use Stacks’ Bitcoin smart contract layer.
- WOO Network (WOO) surged more than 6% after listing its zero-fee perpetual token SUI.
- TRON’s TRX surged by more than 4% following the announcement of a strategic partnership initiative with Huobi and BitTorrent.
The rise of these tokens is in stark contrast to the general declines experienced by most crypto tokens, although there are a few of the assets that have also gained in the past seven days.
This week we examine Pepe (PEPE), FLOKI (FLOKI), Stacks (STX), WOO Network (WOO) and TRON (TRX). In selecting these assets, we have taken into account several factors, including positive technical developments, significant news events and noticeable changes in price.
Pepe (PEPE)
Crypto meme coins were the stars of the past week and there was no bigger gainer among them than PEPE. The price of the token — which has no value other than being a meme — more than doubled, though it’s still well under a cent. While many have questioned the token and the fact that the development team likely controls a large portion of the supply, it still managed to post a 120% increase.
The token is only days old, and there is reason for investors to be wary of disingenuous behavior from people trading it. For the most part, investors seem to be in the token for a quick buck. Binance has also listed the token, possibly fueling the upward move further. PEPE is trading at around $0.000002193, after being priced at $0.000000696 last week (see chart below).
PEPE Price: TradingView
FLOOKIE (FLOOKIE)
FLOKI is another meme coin, albeit one that has been around much longer than PEPE. The token surged by nearly 50%, possibly riding the wave of other meme coins, as these tokens experienced a resurgence in the past week.
The token was also listed on Binance, which could also have contributed to the rising price. Unlike PEPE, FLOKI tries to provide other tools, such as use in a metaverse game. However, investors seem to be more focused on the profits a “meme coin season” can bring. FLOKI is also changing hands well below 1 cent, at around $0.000049, after trading at $0.000033 last week (see chart below).
FLOKI Price: TradingView
Stacks (STX)
The Stacks (STX) coin recorded a gain of more than 10%, possibly due to significant increase in the use of NFTs on the Bitcoin network. Crypto enthusiasts have minted NFTs on Bitcoin, and STX has benefited from this. Stacks offers a Bitcoin layer for smart contracts, which includes decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs, among others. With smart contracts, developers can create programmable instructions, leading to decentralized applications.
Bitcoin Ordinals used in minting are a bit like NFTs, in that they provide data that can be used to create unique assets on Bitcoin. They are individual satoshis created directly on the Bitcoin network. Their data includes the media necessary to create NFTs and requires no additional token or chain.
STX was recently priced at around 76 cents, up from 68 cents last week (see chart below).
STX Price: TradingView
WOO Network (WOO)
The WOO Network (WOO) token climbed more than 6% during the week. One reason for the increase could be that it listed the popular SUI perpetual token on its platform without fees.
Another reason for the price gain could be that the network made changes to its community ambassador program, WOO Force. WOO is trading at around 26 cents, after rising as high as 32 cents on Friday and starting last week at 25.73 cents (see chart below).
WOO Price: TradingView
THRONE (TRX)
TRON’s TRX coin rose around 3%, possibly due to an announcement of strategic cooperation with Huobi and BitTorrent. The theme of the collaboration is a “Memeverse carnival.” The collaboration is aimed at supporting the development of meme coins and their ecosystems.
TRX was recently priced at around 6.85 cents, up slightly from 6.7 cents last week (see chart below).
TRX Price: TradingView
As of the date this article was written, the author does not own any of the assets discussed herein.
The comments, opinions and analysis expressed on Investopedia are for informational purposes online. Read our warranty and disclaimer for more information.
