The first two weeks of 2026 have injected new energy into Shiba Inu. After a
sluggish second half of 2025, the token has jumped 17% in the past week and
21% over the last fortnight—a surge that pushed prices to the upper band of
its Bollinger range. Traders briefly broke through the psychologically important
$0.000010 mark before some profit-taking kicked in, but the overall chart still
looks healthy. The relative strength index is sitting near 60, well clear of
bearish territory, and the 20-day moving average has turned upward for the first
time since August.
What’s particularly interesting is the derivatives data. Open interest has started
climbing back from the multi-month lows we saw in mid-December, suggesting that
sidelined money is flowing back into meme coins as the broader crypto market mood
improves.
Behind the price action, there’s real activity happening. Daily token burns ramped
up to an average of 16 million SHIB in the first week of January, gradually
reducing the circulating supply. At the same time, Shibarium—the project’s
layer-two network—processed more than 42 million transactions during that period,
showing steady adoption from retail users and play-to-earn developers. Add in a
modest uptick in trading volumes on ShibaSwap, and you’ve got a picture of
growing on-chain activity rather than just pure speculation.
Derivatives and On-Chain Signals Point to More Upside
Looking at perpetual futures funding rates, there’s been a noteworthy shift.
The market has flipped from negative to slightly positive—a move that often
precedes spot-led rallies as short sellers throw in the towel. The aggregated
funding rate for SHIB contracts has been hovering around +0.01% since Monday.
That’s not euphoric by any means, but it’s a significant reversal from the
–0.04% we saw throughout November.
Options desks are seeing action too. There’s been a jump in open interest for
March-expiry calls at the 1-cent strike ($0.000010), suggesting traders are
betting on a sustained move through that resistance level.
The on-chain data backs up what the derivatives are showing. Large holders—wallets
containing between 100 billion and 1 trillion SHIB—have added roughly 8.7 trillion
tokens since New Year’s Day. That’s the biggest two-week accumulation since the
summer lull of 2025. On Tuesday alone, net exchange outflows hit 21 billion SHIB,
which reduces the immediate selling pressure. If these flows continue, analysts
are looking at a retest of the $0.000010 level before January wraps up, with a
secondary target of $0.000020 by the end of the second quarter.
New Players Enter the Arena
While Shiba Inu is leading the meme coin comeback, smaller projects are starting
to attract risk-hungry capital. One that’s getting attention is SUBBD, an
Ethereum-based token built for a creator economy platform that combines adult
content with generative AI. The project has raised more than $1.4 million in its
ongoing presale, promising automated scripting and content generation tools, all
powered by smart contracts that distribute payments instantly to creators.
Early-stage investors are betting that the intersection of AI and blockchain
will unlock a niche but scalable revenue model—similar to the explosive growth
we saw with fan-token apps in 2024. Community interest appears legitimate: the
project’s social channels hit 38,000 followers this week, and private-round
allocations reportedly sold out within 48 hours.
SUBBD is still highly speculative, of course, but it represents the kind of
high-beta opportunity that tends to emerge during these market phases. These
tokens appeal to the same retail crowd driving the SHIB rebound, but with
potentially bigger upside swings once centralized exchange listings arrive.
Overall, early 2026 flows suggest traders are rotating out of large-cap defensive
positions and back into higher-octane narratives. If macro conditions stay
favorable and Shiba Inu can convert its current technical strength into a clean
breakout, the meme coin sector—along with adjacent newcomers like SUBBD—could
lead the next crypto risk-on wave.
