Shiba Inu price stuck in a range as Shibarium activity dries

Shiba Inu price remained in a tight range, underperforming some of the newly minted meme coins like Popcat, Neiro, and SPX6900.

Shiba Inu ($SHIB) was consolidating at $0.00001718 on Oct. 9, down by 21% from its highest point this month. This retreat means that the second-largest meme coin has moved into a local bear market.

Shiba Inu’s underperformance is likely due to the ongoing rotation to newer meme coins that are generating strong returns. SPX6900 ($SPX) has soared by over 300% in the last seven days, bringing its market cap to over $562 million.

Popcat (POPCAT), a popular Solana (SOL) meme coin, has surged by over 13,500% from its lowest point in January. Some of the other top-performing new coins are Neiro (NEIRO), Gigachad, and Apu Apustaja.

Shiba Inu’s performance has also been impacted by the waning traction in Shibarium, its layer-2 network. Data from ShibariumScan shows that the number of active accounts has dropped to below 500, while new accounts on Oct. 8 were just 33.

Shibarium’s average transaction fee has dropped to 0.005 BONE, down from last month’s high of 0.062 BONE, a 91% plunge. The number of transactions on the network has also dwindled.

Shibarium’s transactions and fees are important for Shiba Inu because some of the BONE is converted into $SHIB and burned.

Meanwhile, Shiba Inu’s open interest in the futures market has also dropped sharply. It moved to $44 million, down from this month’s high of $70 million.

Shiba Inu price has stalled

Shiba Inu price chart | Source: TradingView

The daily chart shows that the $SHIB token bottomed at $0.00000108, its lowest level on Aug. 5. It has rebounded above the upper side of the falling wedge pattern, which is shown in black.

The token has remained above the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages. Additionally, the MACD indicator has stayed above the zero line.

$SHIB’s rebound will be confirmed if it moves above the crucial resistance level at $0.0000187, its highest swing on Oct. 6. A move above that level could point to further upside, potentially to $0.000021, its highest level on Sept. 27.