On February 15, 2025, at 14:00 UTC, Argentinian President Javier Milei launched a memecoin named $LIBRA, with the stated purpose of fostering economic growth in Argentina (source: @KobeissiLetter on X, February 15, 2025). The launch of $LIBRA led to a significant market reaction, with over $4.4 billion in market capitalization being wiped out within just five hours of the announcement (source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025, 19:00 UTC). The initial trading price of $LIBRA was $0.05, but it plummeted to $0.001 within the first hour, showcasing a 98% drop (source: CoinGecko, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). This drastic decline was accompanied by a trading volume of $1.2 billion in the first hour, suggesting a high level of speculative trading and panic selling (source: TradingView, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). The event also had a ripple effect on other memecoins, with $DOGE and $SHIB experiencing declines of 15% and 20%, respectively, within the same timeframe (source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025, 19:00 UTC).

The trading implications of the $LIBRA launch were immediate and severe. The memecoin market as a whole saw a significant drop in market capitalization, with the total market cap of memecoins decreasing by 25% from $17.6 billion to $13.2 billion (source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025, 19:00 UTC). This event highlighted the fragility of memecoins and the potential for rapid market shifts due to high-profile endorsements or launches. The $LIBRA/$USDT trading pair saw an unprecedented spike in trading volume, reaching $2.5 billion in the first three hours, indicating a frenzy of buying and selling (source: Binance, February 15, 2025, 17:00 UTC). Furthermore, the $LIBRA/$BTC pair experienced a 50% decrease in value within the first two hours, from 0.000001 BTC to 0.0000005 BTC, underscoring the volatility and speculative nature of the memecoin market (source: Kraken, February 15, 2025, 16:00 UTC). The event also led to increased scrutiny and regulatory concerns, with several exchanges announcing temporary suspension of $LIBRA trading due to the volatility and potential for market manipulation (source: Coinbase, February 15, 2025, 18:00 UTC).

Technical indicators for $LIBRA showed extreme bearish signals. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for $LIBRA dropped to 10 within the first hour, indicating severe overselling (source: TradingView, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) line crossed below the signal line, further confirming the bearish trend (source: TradingView, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). On-chain metrics revealed that the number of active $LIBRA addresses surged from 1,000 to 50,000 within the first hour, suggesting a rapid influx of new participants (source: Etherscan, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). However, the average transaction size decreased from $10,000 to $100, indicating a shift towards smaller, possibly panic-driven trades (source: Etherscan, February 15, 2025, 15:00 UTC). The total number of $LIBRA transactions reached 100,000 within the first three hours, with 90% of these being sell orders (source: Etherscan, February 15, 2025, 17:00 UTC). The event's impact on the broader crypto market was evident, with Bitcoin and Ethereum experiencing declines of 3% and 4%, respectively, suggesting a correlation between memecoin volatility and major crypto assets (source: CoinMarketCap, February 15, 2025, 19:00 UTC).