title: Pre-market: Bitcoin (BTC) and the Donald Trump (Trump) memecoin launch

President Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin launch in January could have catalyzed the recent Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto market peak

output: Macro strategist Jim Bianco says that President Donald Trump’s controversial memecoin launch in January could have catalyzed the recent Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto market peak.

In a post on the social media platform X, where he has 443,700 followers, Bianco, the president of Bianco Research, says that Bitcoin hit its high of around $109,000 in January, just a few days after Trump launched his official memecoin.

"Trump coin launched on January 15. Bitcoin peaked on January 19. New highs in Bitcoin were nearly $109,000. Trump coin was priced at $47.47 (MAGA). A MAGA coin value of $78,000 in Bitcoin. Interesting serendipity," says Bianco.

BTC is down nearly 8% in the past 24 hours and more than 7% in the past week. The top-ranked crypto asset by market cap is trading at $87,244 at time of writing, its lowest level since mid-November.

Bianco also notes that top Ethereum (ETH) competitor Solana (SOL) also hit its peak in late January.

"The Solana network is the home of the memecoin mania. SOL peaked on January 22, three days after the Trump coin peak and is now down by almost half. So goes SOL, so goes memecoins. SOL’s rally end coincided with Trump’s memecoin.

"The Trump memecoin launch was widely covered by the mainstream media in January. At the time, Trump announced that he was launching his own memecoin with the ticker "MAGA" in honor of his signature slogan "Make America Great Again." The memecoin was priced at $47.47, which Bianco notes would have been valued at around 0.53 Bitcoin at the time.

The memecoin went on sale on January 15 at 3 p.m. ET for $47.47, priced in U.S. dollar terms. It was also available in Bitcoin at a rate of 0.53 BTC, and in ETH at 0.17 ETH. It is currently trading at $13.35, according to CoinGecko.

The Trump memecoin launch came amid a broader memecoin mania that swept the crypto markets earlier this year. A slew of memecoins, such as Pepecoin and Bonk, experienced astronomical rallies in the first half of 2023.

However, the memecoin frenzy has largely fizzled out in recent months, and the value of memecoins has plummeted.

SOL is trading at $143.66 at time of writing. The sixth-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down nearly 7.5% in the past week and almost 13% in the past week. It is also currently down more than 51% from its all-time high of $293.31.

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