Meme token Shiba Inu (SHIB) surged 36% to $0.0000057 on Sunday, July 26, 2026. The rally pushed its market capitalization close to $3.4 billion, accompanied by a daily trading volume of $380 million - its highest level in several months.
There were no announcements from the developer team or updates from the Shibarium layer-2 project to trigger the move. Other dog-themed tokens also failed to follow suit. Dogecoin recorded only a 6% gain, while a broader slate of similar memecoins hovered around 10% over the same period. The data confirms that inflows were targeting SHIB specifically, rather than a broader market rotation into the memecoin sector.
Who Is Buying Behind the Scenes
Trading volume data provides clues as to where this price momentum originated. South Korean crypto exchange Upbit recorded the SHIB/KRW trading pair as the single largest market, with volume surpassing $62 million. This figure represented more than 10% of SHIB’s total global 24-hour volume.
The price action reinforces signs of Asian buying. SHIB on Upbit traded at a slight premium compared to Binance and other dollar-denominated exchanges, a phenomenon that typically emerges when local retail traders aggressively accumulate. Price charts also show the first spike occurred late Saturday night. The price then traded flat for nine hours before staging a second surge right during Asian morning hours.
Liquidations Simply Followed the Trend
The sharp rally wiped out bets from traders expecting lower prices. Approximately 2,300 traders were liquidated, totaling $6 million in losses. Of that total, $5 million stemmed strictly from short positions.
Despite the heavy losses, this wave of forced liquidations was not the catalyst behind the rally. The largest liquidations coincided with the second price spike in the morning. This indicates that the short squeeze merely trailed an already advancing price trend, rather than fueling the initial surge.
Fundamentals Have Yet to Play a Role
First launched in August 2020 by an anonymous developer under the pseudonym ‘Ryoshi’, SHIB was initially marketed strictly as a Dogecoin competitor on the Ethereum network. The developer team gradually began building additional utility, including the Shibarium layer-2 network and supporting ecosystem tokens. However, these development efforts have not yet been enough to propel its price back to its 2021 all-time highs.
This weekend’s surge once again confirms an enduring pattern. SHIB price movements remain heavily driven by retail sentiment rather than fundamental adoption or ecosystem technology. When a concentrated cohort of regional traders enters the market, prices can shift direction abruptly without requiring official announcements.
As reported by CoinDesk.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
