Pepe soared to a new all-time high in less than 24 hours, with whales diving into the meme coin’s volatile journey. Originating as a nod to the Pepe the Frog internet meme from the 2000s, Pepe quickly captured the attention of the crypto community following its launch in April 2023. Since then, the meme coin has skyrocketed by over 40,000%. PEPE hit a new all-time high (ATH) of 0.000020 following Robinhood’s announcement to list the crypto asset. After a slight correction earlier today, the frog-themed token surged again, reaching an ATH of 0.000025 with bullish momentum.
The upward movement of Pepe began with Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential elections, as the victory spurred growth across the broader crypto market, including meme coins. As of this writing, the meme coin has maintained an 80% increase over the past 24 hours, trading at 0.000022. With a market cap of 9.8 billion, it now ranks as the 14th-largest crypto token in the industry.
PEPE price | Source: TradingView
Pepe’s daily trading volume also experienced a dramatic surge, increasing by 313% to hit an impressive $21.5 billion.
Whales Enter the Fray
Following the announcement by Robinhood, whale activity surrounding Pepe surged more than fourfold. Transactions involving large sums of at least 100,000 in PEPE escalated from 405 million to $1.66 billion on November 13, as per the data from the on-chain analysis platform IntoTheBlock.
PEPE large transactions | Source: IntoTheBlock
This week whales executed more than 3,000 transactions of such magnitude. Conversely, Pepe experienced a significant sell-off by its largest holders, with whales showing a net outflow of 1.11 trillion PEPE on Wednesday, according to data from ITB.
PEPE whale net flow | Source: IntoTheBlock
Sell-offs by large holders typically lead to a rapid drop in the price of crypto assets, particularly within the highly volatile meme coin category. In this instance, though, retail investors’ accumulation appears to have offset the impact of the whale sell-off. Given the soaring trading volume and increased activity by whales, the price of Pepe might undergo a correction before it embarks on another bull run.
