Shiba Inu Surges 30% to Start 2026 — Is a Breakout on the Horizon?

Updated

January 8, 2026

Gambar Shiba Inu Surges 30% to Start 2026 — Is a Breakout on the Horizon?

Jakarta, Pintu News – Shiba Inu prices have started 2026 with a sharp surge. SHIB has risen nearly 30% in the first week of the year and is up about 48% from its low point on December 31.

The rise is striking after a weak year, but on-chain data suggests that this rally is likely just a pause in a downward trend, not a confirmed breakout – unless a specific group of buyers comes into the market.

A Push from the Meme Coin Sector, Not Spot Buying, is Driving the SHIB Rally

SHIB’s price rally is closely aligned with the broader surge in the meme coin sector. In the past seven days, the meme coin sector is up around 23%, and the Meme Season Index jumped nearly 80% – levels often associated with short-term momentum in the meme coin market.

Currently, the Meme Season Index is around the early November level, which was previously followed by a price correction.

This is important because SHIB appears to be moving as part of an overall sector trend(beta trade), rather than due to project-specific accumulation. In a beta rally, capital flows into various liquid meme tokens simultaneously, rather than through faith-based purchases of one specific project.

Data from whale activity supports this view. Since December 31, the total supply of SHIBs held by whale fell from approximately 667.2 trillion tokens to 666.2 trillion tokens – a decrease of approximately 1.0 trillion SHIBs. At current prices, this equates to about $9 million in whale sales.

Whales generally sell when prices are soaring rapidly. In this case, the whale sell-off did not stop the price increase, signaling that the inflows from the meme coin sector in general were strong enough to absorb the selling pressure – a clear sign of a beta rally.

Profit Taking Explains Correction, Not Panic

On-chain activity suggests that even support from retail investors may not be very visible.

The Spent Coins Age Band indicator tracks the number of tokens moved on-chain from all holder groups. Between December 31 and January 7, the amount of SHIB moved jumped from approximately 268.9 billion tokens to 747.1 billion tokens – an increase of approximately 178%.

This suggests that holders of different ages of ownership are taking advantage of the price rally to move or sell tokens when the price rises, rather than making purchases. This pattern is common in beta-based rallies, where profit-taking increases without causing panic. This is what eventually cooled down the rally and pushed the SHIB price into a consolidation phase, although the technical pattern still forms a bullish pole-and-flag.

What happened afterward is even more important. After January 7, spent coin activity dropped dramatically from 747.1 billion tokens to 146.0 billion tokens – a drop of about 80%. At the same time, the SHIB price remained in a consolidation phase. This indicates that most of the profit-taking has been completed, and there are no signs of panic selling yet.

Now, in order to continue the rally, aggressive buying is required on the way down. The selling pressure has eased, but new demand needs to emerge for SHIB to break upwards again.

What Needs to Change for Shiba Inu Prices to Break Through in Q1

Momentum indicators suggest that the recent price drop is a reasonable baseline scenario.

The RelativeStrength Index ( RSI) showed a hidden bearish divergence in early January, which accurately signaled a potential decline. The RSI measures the strength of momentum, and in this case, the RSI trended upwards between December 7 and January 5, while SHIB prices formed lower highs – an early warning sign of a price correction.

However, despite the correction, theMoney Flow Index ( MFI) – which tracks whether funds are moving in or out of an asset – also fell. Currently, the MFI continues to weaken along with the price drop, indicating that the price drop has not been accompanied by aggressive buying. This is a major negative signal for breakout opportunities.

For SHIB to really be able to break higher in the first quarter, this situation must change. In addition, coin activity as mentioned earlier must also remain low (not many sell-offs or big moves).

Price-wise, SHIB needs to print a strong daily close above $0.0000091, then confirmed with a move above $0.0000095, to confirm the breakout. If momentum returns, the target move based on the previous pattern(pole) points to around $0.0000135.

Important resistance levels to cross include the psychological level of $0.0000100.

On the downside, the support levels are around $0.0000088, then $0.0000080 and $0.0000078. If the price breaks below these levels, SHIB’s technical structure will weaken.

Conclusion

At the moment, things are still in balance. SHIB’s rally so far is reasonable as part of the meme coin sector’sbeta move. The correction is in line with heavy profit-taking and RSI divergence signals.

A breakout is still possible in Q1, but the condition is that the MFI has to start strengthening and buyers come back in as the price drops.

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This content aims to enrich readers’ information. Pintu collects this information from various relevant sources and is not influenced by outside parties. Note that an asset’s past performance does not determine its projected future performance. Crypto trading activities have high risk and volatility, always do your own research and use cold cash before investing. All activities of buying and selling bitcoin and other crypto asset investments are the responsibility of the reader.

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