PEPE has emerged as a formidable force among meme coins across various social media platforms, overshadowing the dwindling interest in Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a challenging period this September, with most digital assets facing significant losses as investors become increasingly risk-averse. According to analysts at Santiment, this pervasive fear among traders can be attributed to five key narratives that have shaped the current crypto market cycle and are likely to influence future prices.

A crucial tool for gauging market sentiment is the Fear & Greed Index. This metric is calculated by analyzing social media mentions, dominance in online discussions, surveys, trends, volatility, and trading volume. The current readings of the Fear & Greed Index indicate a prevailing sense of fear among market participants, following a sharp correction in crypto prices. Bitcoin (BTC) has dipped to $57,000, while Ethereum (ETH) is hovering around $2,400, gradually recovering from earlier declines this week.

While meme coins dominated the narrative in the first half of 2024, the latter part of the year has seen the emergence of new themes such as increased institutional investor demand for digital assets, heightened whale activity, and growing regulatory concerns.

Whale activity plays a significant role in influencing asset prices. On-chain data and historical trends suggest that movements by large wallet investors—either through accumulation or substantial sell-offs—have a direct impact on asset prices. For instance, the number of entities holding over 1,000 Bitcoins stabilized at 1,600 following the initial excitement surrounding Bitcoin ETF approvals. Data from Glassnode indicates that whale activity surged in the first half of 2024, likely in response to ETF approvals, pushing the count of entities holding more than 1,000 BTC to 1,600. This number has remained steady even as Bitcoin’s price dropped to $57,000, a 22% decline from its all-time high of $73,777 observed on March 14.

Institutional investors have been a consistent source of demand for Bitcoin. A recent report by River, a Bitcoin Financial Services company, reveals that institutions hold 587% more BTC in 2024 compared to 2020. Beyond Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies have also attracted institutional interest. Analysts at Santiment highlighted that institutional interest in Toncoin (TON) is growing, with traders closely watching for new buy-ins that could potentially shift the market’s trajectory.

Regulatory and legal concerns have also weighed heavily on market sentiment. The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed lawsuits against major players like Kraken, Uniswap, Ripple, and issued a Wells Notice to NFT platform OpenSea. The SEC might appeal the final ruling in the Ripple lawsuit, while their latest enforcement action involves allegations against OpenSea for selling NFTs that allegedly violate securities laws.

Despite legal uncertainties, the NFT market continues to evolve as more artists enter the digital art space. Platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, Axie Infinity, and Mintable gained traction in August. However, several new projects failed to meet expectations, leading to price fluctuations across multiple NFT collections. NFTPriceFloor provides data on the top five NFT collections, their floor prices, and recent changes over the last 30 days.

The meme coin narrative held strong throughout the first half of 2024, delivering the highest returns for traders according to CoinGecko data. This frenzy was fueled by the creation of numerous coins within the Solana ecosystem, such as Dogwifhat (WIF). However, the focus has since shifted to sectors like Real World Asset (RWA) tokenization, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and NFT coins in the second half of the year.

Santiment’s report highlights that PEPE (PEPE) continues to lead among meme coins, while dog-themed cryptocurrencies like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) have seen their popularity wane.

In summary, crypto market capitalization has rebounded to $2.089 trillion as of Thursday, following an earlier correction in asset prices this week. Nonetheless, it remains 21% below the $2.678 trillion peak observed at the end of H1 2024.