Shiba Inu has endured a brutal stretch. The token has lost close to 70% of its value over the past year and is down more than 90% from its peak, prompting growing debate about whether SHIB still has a future. As enthusiasm around meme coins fades, doubts are mounting about whether Shiba Inu is slowly slipping into irrelevance.
Those concerns intensified after CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju declared that meme coins are effectively “finished,” pointing to declining dominance and fading speculative interest. At first glance, Shiba Inu appears to fit that narrative. Price action has been weak, rallies have failed to sustain momentum, and overall interest looks diminished. But a closer look at on-chain data paints a more complex picture.
The broader meme coin sector has clearly lost steam. Data shows meme coin dominance has fallen back to levels last seen in early 2024, signaling that speculative capital has largely moved elsewhere. Shiba Inu reflects this slowdown. The token remains trapped below long-term resistance, and each attempt to rally has been quickly sold off. Wallets associated with experienced traders and “smart money” have steadily trimmed their SHIB exposure, suggesting there’s little appetite for short-term upside bets.
Derivatives data supports that view. Over the past month, most perpetual futures traders have reduced their positions, and leverage across the market remains light outside of a handful of large accounts. This indicates traders are cautious and not positioning for sharp or sudden price moves. In short, speculation — once the lifeblood of meme coins — has largely dried up.
Yet price and speculation don’t tell the whole story. Long-term holder behavior shows a different trend emerging beneath the surface. The number of wallets holding SHIB has continued to grow despite the drawdown, rising from around 1.46 million to approximately 1.54 million over the past year. The increase hasn’t been perfectly steady, but the overall direction remains upward even as prices declined.
Whale activity is even more telling. Large holders have dramatically increased their SHIB balances over the past year, with some data showing holdings up nearly 250%. The biggest wallets alone have expanded their positions by close to 30%. At the same time, the amount of SHIB sitting on exchanges has fallen by roughly 22%, reducing the immediate supply available for selling. Over the past 30 days, this trend has accelerated, with whale balances jumping sharply while exchange outflows intensified.
That behavior doesn’t resemble abandonment. It looks more like quiet accumulation. However, it’s also worth noting that whales aren’t using heavy leverage, and derivatives traders remain mostly on the sidelines. This suggests accumulation is cautious rather than aggressive.
From a technical standpoint, SHIB’s structure is still weak but not beyond recovery. On the three-day chart, the price remains locked inside a long-term falling wedge — a pattern that often precedes a bullish reversal if a breakout occurs. Recently, momentum indicators flashed an early signal: while price made a lower low, the RSI formed a higher low, indicating that selling pressure may be losing strength.
Specific price levels now matter more than broader narratives. Resistance near $0.0000092 is key. A decisive break above that zone would mark a technical breakout and challenge claims that SHIB is a “dead coin.” Beyond that, further resistance sits near $0.000010, $0.000011, and $0.000014. On the downside, sustained weakness below $0.0000075 would invalidate the reversal setup and reopen the door to deeper losses.
Shiba Inu isn’t thriving — but it isn’t gone either. Speculation has faded, traders remain defensive, and quick gains look unlikely. Still, rising holder counts, steady whale accumulation, and declining exchange balances suggest the network itself remains active. If broader altcoin momentum returns, SHIB may still have a chance to reawaken. Until then, it sits in a holding pattern — not dead, but waiting for proof of life.
