Investor sentiment reversed sharply in the memecoin market on April 17, 2025. The ‘smart money’ significantly decreased its exposure to many well-known tokens.
On-chain activity indicates that outflows greatly outnumbered inflows, marking one of the quarter’s most pronounced net pullbacks. Indeed, some might question just how much pullback is left to be pulled back!
As per the data gathered by blockchain tracking companies, there was an inflow of nearly $2.48 million into memecoins. However, that would not tell the full story—exits from memecoins totaled a staggering $9.11 million. What this means is a negative net volume of $6.62 million. This is indeed a way to signal that institutions and sophisticated retail traders are taking profits on what-have-you right now and are not looking to reposition into memecoins in any serious way.
Heavy Outflows From FARTCOIN and Other Popular Tokens
The day’s data had one main highlight, which was the huge outflow from FARTCOIN, where we saw smart money pulling out a jaw-dropping $6 million. This single move accounted for almost two-thirds of the day’s total outflows and signals a wowzer shift in sentiment around the once-hyped meme asset. FARTCOIN had been on a rollercoaster in the past few weeks, with large whales making—and losing—millions in super-visible trades. However, FARTCOIN’s future is becoming less and less sunny, as the latest outflow seems to show that even the most confident original backers are now exiting stage left.
Other notable outflows came from JLP (–$562K), GIGA (–$91K), and WIF (–$110K), all of which have received strong attention from speculators in the past. Even POPCAT, another memecoin that occasionally enjoys community-driven surges of hype, saw a net outflow of $145K.
The picture that today’s capital shift paints is one of cautious repositioning. Our smart money says there is almost four times as much capital flowing out as there is coming in. Today’s memecoin capital shift also says that the 2025 memecoin run-up has almost no smart money behind it.
Selective Inflows Hint at Targeted Bets
Even though the market sentiment is strongly bearish, some of the more popular memecoins have still been able to manage getting some fresh capital—yet at significantly lower volumes than before. Among the tokens that were still able to see inflows were STEP (with a $34K inflow), RFC ($41K), PNUT ($194K), DARK ($238K), and CHILLGUY (with a $108K inflow). These figures might be modest compared to inflows of past months, but they could carry more weight if one considers that these memecoins might be benefitting from a reallocation of investor capital into less-saturated or newly emergent narrative spaces.
Recap: Smart money on chain activities in the memecoin market for 17/04/25
Yesterday, there was more outflow than inflow
Inflow: $2.48M
Outflow: $9.11M
Volume: $11.59M
Net Volume: -$6.62MThere was inflow into: $STEP ($34K) $RFC($41K) $PNUT ($194K) $DARK ($238K) #CHILLGUY… pic.twitter.com/T17vPCw9aI
— Stalkchain (@StalkHQ) April 18, 2025
Provably scarce tokens such as DARK and PNUT, in particular, are on the radar and worth watching. Both drew the highest inflows of the day among their peers, which may suggest growing confidence in their staying power or upcoming game-changing events such as exchange listings or community-driven, LOL-worthy viral campaigns. They might also represent an opportunity for smart money to rotate into less-exposed, undervalued assets ahead of potential price moves.
CHILLGUY has only drawn $108K in inflows, but it is steadily gaining traction on social media and NFT-adjacents communities, hinting at potential crossover appeal that could turn that speculative attention into price action.
A Broader Sentiment Shift in Play?
Although a single day’s data cannot define a trend, the snapshot of the market on April 17 might be a significant inflection point. For that day, the market saw a net outflow of $6.62 million, driven in large part by the exits of big investors from old meme projects. This outflow might reflect a growing concern in the market about sustainability, given that the cryptocurrency space has recently been flooded with copycat projects and flash-in-the-pan tokens.
The crypto market as a whole has been consolidating in recent weeks, and the memecoin sector—often the most speculative segment of the ecosystem—has typically been the first to show signs of life (often in a top-down fashion) when risk appetite returns and the first to feel the impact when investors get a bit jittery.
Even so, experienced watchers know the memecoin drill well: the hype can fade fast, but it can return just as fast. Smart money may be reducing exposure now, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the meme season—it could just be a reset before the next wave begins.
At the moment, the capital’s next destination is under close scrutiny, along with the question of which tokens—if any—might have the ability to defy prevailing market conditions and become the next breakout asset.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
No Comments