The beginning of 2026 is a big surprise for the crypto market. On January 2, those Meme Coins that had not moved for more than half a year suddenly woke up - PEPE soared 26% in a single day, DOGE followed the trend and rose 8%, and the retail investor group that was originally lying flat exploded instantly, and there was a discussion of "whether to get on the bus" everywhere. This is not an accidental fluctuation in the market, but a signal of a collective awakening among retail investors.

From a data perspective, behind this wave of market stands the army of retail investors on Robinhood. On January 2, retail investors swept away 8.3% of PEPE's circulating supply in one go, directly pushing the trading volume to the order of $800 million. What does this number mean? Earlier, Bernstein predicted in a research report that Robinhood's crypto trading volume would triple in 2026 compared to 2024, and now it seems that this prediction is accelerating.

But what really detonates popularity is the power of emotions. PEPE's official "we ride at dawn" tweet went viral on crypto social media, directly igniting the FOMO mentality. In the world of meme coins, "fear of missing out" is always a stronger driving force than "making money", and this time retail investors proved this with practical actions.

However, purely emotions cannot support the market to go far. The real hard support comes from the capital side. The rise in the open interest rate (OI) shows that new funds are entering the market in a steady stream, which is not just sentiment pushing up prices, but real money is paying for it. Retail investors did not blindly follow the trend this time, but voted with money, pulling Meme Coin up from the cold bench.