Shiba Inu (SHIB) jumped 36% over the weekend, climbing to $0.0000057 and adding roughly $1 billion in market cap. This surge marks the highest SHIB price in more than two months and pushed its market value to around $3.4 billion, placing it back in the top 30 cryptocurrencies by capitalization.
The price moved sharply despite no major news or updates from the project. Most crypto assets remained flat during this period, with Dogecoin rising only 6% and PEPE gaining 9%, underscoring SHIB’s standout performance among memecoins. The rally unfolded in two stages: a late Saturday jump, a lull, then a second push through the Asian morning session.
South Korean Market Drives Volume
South Korean traders played a key role in this rally. On Upbit, the SHIB/KRW pair accounted for over 10% of global SHIB trading volume, roughly $62 million. The pair also exhibited a slight premium compared to Binance and other US dollar-based exchanges. This regional activity fits a known pattern where Korean markets trigger sharp moves in volatile tokens.
Short sellers were caught off guard by the rally, suffering liquidations worth approximately $6 million across 2,300 traders, mostly on short positions. This forced buying helped fuel the upward momentum.
Whale Reenters and Token Burn Accelerates
A significant on-chain event was the return of a large SHIB whale, inactive for six months, who spent $125,000 acquiring over 30 billion tokens. While a single purchase of this size alone can’t account for the full price jump, it likely acted as a strong signal attracting other buyers.
At the same time, SHIB’s token burn rate surged more than 3,200% in 24 hours, reducing the circulating supply and supporting price pressure. Weekly burns increased 500%, and exchange supply data from CryptoQuant indicates a steady shift of tokens from exchanges to private wallets in recent weeks.
SHIB’s price was last rejected at $0.0000067 in May, which led to a correction down to near $0.000004, its multi-year low at that time. The token launched in August 2020 as an Ethereum-based project by an anonymous developer and has since developed its own layer-2 network called Shibarium.
This article provides informational content and is not financial advice.
