Retail investors in the official TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins have suffered significant losses since their launch, with holders absorbing over $4 billion in losses now that the tokens are trading more than 90% below their early 2025 highs.
Trump Family Memecoins Leave Investors in the Red
CryptoRank report on Friday common how retail investors lost billions on the Trump family’s official memecoins while insiders apparently pocketed millions of dollars.
Over a year ago, President Trump surprised the industry by launching his official token before the start of his second term. Memecoin quickly reached an all-time high (ATH) of $75, bringing huge profits to many early investors.
Two days later, US First Lady Melania Trump announced the launch of her Memecoin, whose ATH price quickly rose to $13.05 in less than 24 hours.
However, the tokens received significant backlash from the crypto community, with some X users calling memecoins a “big red flag” as later reports revealed that one of the faces behind MELANIA memecoin was Hayden Davis, the creator of the LIBRA Token disaster.
A year after their launch, memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA have fallen, down 92% and 99% respectively from their highs in January 2025. At the time of writing, the US President-based token is trading at around $3.55, while the First Lady token is hovering around $0.11.
According to CryptoRank, the damage suffered by retail investors is staggering, with holders suffering losses at a ratio of 20 to 1. “For every dollar earned by insiders, regular investors lost $20,” the report noted.
As a result, retail losses have exceeded $4.3 billion with nearly two million wallets currently underwater. Citing data from the analytical company Chainalytic, CNBC common that most of the wallets that lost money contained smaller amounts of the token.
Insiders and cryptocurrency exchanges generate millions
While retail holders are suffering losses, CryptoRank highlighted that insiders have cashed out over $600 million through fees and token sales. Notably, 45 portfolios generated a total of about $1.2 billion, and 58 portfolios earned more than $10 million each, according to CNBC data.
The report also notes that the sell-off may not be over yet, as the $2.7 billion in confidential tokens that will be locked until 2028 suggests that significant selling pressure remains for memecoins.
As reported by NewsBTC, a Reuters analysis showed that the main beneficiaries of the presidential family’s memecoins were cryptocurrency exchanges, and the TRUMP token generated multi-million-dollar revenues for some of the largest exchanges.
Based on standard fee estimates compiled by the news outlet, vetted crypto platforms allegedly earned over $172 million in transaction fees just six months after listing the token on an exchange.
Meanwhile, the Trump family has also benefited significantly from its major crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial (WLFI) and the TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins.
According to last The president’s official memecoins generated about $280 million in profits from family farms and related proceeds, according to Bloomberg data.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
