Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit recently released a report emphasizing how much institutional investors I invested in meme coins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. The platform revealed that these investors have been actively trading these meme coins since the beginning of the year and have noted which specific meme coins they currently hold.

How institutional investors invested in meme coins

According to the report, institutional investors have started accumulating meme coins Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB)AND Pepper (PEPPER) between February and March, around when the meme coin trend began to gain momentum. Their spot shares in them meme coins reportedly increased by 226% to $204 million.

Institutional investors didn’t stop there. In April they collected more meme coins, and their total meme coin holdings increased to $293.7 million. However, these investors appeared to have exited their positions as sentiment around meme coins reached an all-time high, with their meme coin holdings dropping to $139 million by May.

These investors are believed to have made some profits in anticipation of the price decline of these meme coins due to: wave of profit taking. Meanwhile, those investors who invest heavily in these meme coins are primarily re-emphasizing the broad adoption this category of crypto tokens has started to enjoy since the beginning of the year.

Interest in these meme coins among institutional investors was also evident for asset manager VanEck fired meme coin index for performance tracking top meme coins. This index includes Dogecoin (DOGE)Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe (PEPE), Dogwifhat (WIF), Floki (FLOKI) and Bonk (BONK).

Bybit revealed that retail investors have also made significant investments in these meme coins, with their shares increasing by 478% from February to April. Like institutional investors, these retail investors also sold a significant portion of their holdings, reducing their meme coin allocation from $567 million to $371 million.

Dogecoin tops the meme portfolios of institutional and retail investors

Bybit mentioned it Dogecoin is the largest among the meme coin holdings of those institutional and retail investors. Institutional investors are said to have allocated more to the largest meme coin by market capitalization than retail investors, with Dogecoin accounting for 36.17% of their holdings. In comparison, DOGE only accounts for 24.58% of retail investors’ meme coin holdings.

Both categories of investors were believed to have favored Dogecoin more due to its “higher liquidity and relative stability.” Meanwhile, Ethereum-based meme coins Shiba Inu and Pepe they also constitute a significant part of the meme stock of institutional and retail investors.

Shiba Inu and PEPE account for 20.95% and 14.61% of the retail meme coin portfolio. On the other hand, institutions invested 22.23% and 10.39% of their meme coin holdings in Shiba Inu and PEPE, respectively. BONK meme coin based on Solana was the most popular among the newer meme coins, with retail committing $136 million to it, while institutions committed $74.5 million.