TL;DR

Shiba Inu’s price faces further downside risks due to a sharp drop in Shibarium activity, a collapse in the burn rate, and other factors. However, a predominantly negative exchange netflow suggests investors might be moving SHIB off exchanges into self-custody, potentially easing selling pressure and hinting at a short-term price rebound.

What Signals a Severe Pullback?

The second-biggest meme coin has not been in good shape lately. Its price has fallen over 25% in the past month, currently trading at roughly $0.00001543.

SHIB Price, Source: CoinGecko Some key elements indicate the meme coin might be headed for a deeper correction. One of those is the decreased Shibarium activity. 

Daily transactions processed on the layer-2 scaling solution have dropped from over 4.5 million last week to under 100,000 on February 17. Shibarium is specifically designed to foster the development of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, and its further advancement could positively impact the price of the underlying token. Conversely, its stalled progress may have the opposite effect.

Next on the list is Shiba Inus burning program. The burn rate has collapsed 95% over the last 24 hours, resulting in just 1.7 million tokens sent to a null address. The mechanisms ultimate goal is to reduce the circulating supply of SHIB, potentially making it more valuable in time. 

Lastly, we will touch upon the overall bearish environment of the entire meme coin niche. The sectors total market capitalization has slipped by 5% in the past day, currently set at less than $75 billion. 

The vast majority of the memes, including Dogecoin (DOGE), Pepe (PEPE), Official Trump (TRUMP), Bonk Inu (BONK), Floki Inu (FLOKI), and many more have recorded substantial losses. 

Meme coins are often driven by hype, community sentiment, and speculative trading. A downtrend of the entire sector can dampen enthusiasm, leading to reduced trading volume and selling pressure on numerous tokens, including SHIB.

Something for the Bulls

Despite the aforementioned bearish factors, it is not all doom and gloom, with one on-chain metric suggesting a possible price reversal in the short term.

This is Shiba Inus exchange netflow which, according to CryptoQuant, has been predominantly negative in the last month. The development signals about a potential shift from centralized platforms toward self-custody methods, which in turn, reduces the immediate selling pressure.