After rising 84% in three days, $PEPE surged to a market cap of $5.9 billion but fell 2.9% by May 13, suggesting that profit takers may be regaining control from the believers of the cryptocurrency's third-largest meme coin.
As one of the best-performing ERC-20 tokens, $PEPE has also risen 92.65% over the past month and is up 49.52% year-to-date. These gains have made it one of the top 25 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Memecoin Season Heats Up: $PEPE Only Behind $SHIB and $DOGE
In the memecoin space, $PEPE maintains its position as the third largest by market cap, following Dogecoin ($DOGE) and Shiba Inu ($SHIB).
$PEPE is the third largest memecoin in the cryptocurrency market/ Source: CoinMarketCap
$PEPE was also the third best-performing memecoin this week, behind $WIF and $PNUT.
This sustained interest reinforces a familiar pattern: when trading volume returns to the cryptocurrency market, meme coins often become the focus, with many traders favoring them for their volatility and short-term trading potential over traditional altcoins.
As background, at the beginning of May, the total market cap of memecoins was $55 billion. Just 12 days later, its market cap surged by over 45% to $72.2 billion.
This broader rebound is clearly reflected in the performance of $PEPE, which had a market cap of approximately $2.4 billion as of March 11.
A month later, the price surged over 120%, partly due to Ethereum's recent rebound, rising nearly 60% from a low of $1,380 to above $2,500. ERC-20 tokens like $PEPE typically benefit from Ethereum's bullish momentum.
Other Ethereum-based tokens, such as $NEIRO which rose 50% in the last 24 hours, are also capitalizing on the liquidity boost across the ecosystem.
$PEPE Cooling Off or Preparing for Another Rebound?
Market sentiment towards $PEPE is mixed, with some traders remaining bullish while others anticipate a cooling off in the market. A trader on Hyperliquid opened a $2.3 million long position in $PEPE with 3x leverage.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency analyst @CryptoKaleo stated that the memecoin may consolidate first before potentially skyrocketing to a conservative market cap target between $10 billion and $20 billion.
However, derivative data suggests more than just short-term profit taking. In the last 24 hours, $PEPE's trading volume dropped over 20%, and open interest fell by 11.42%.
$PEPE Open Interest (OI) Decreased by 11.4%/ Source: CoinGlass
As a result, over $4.71 million in long positions were liquidated. On the other hand, on-chain indicators tell a different story.
The number of $PEPE holders has climbed to over 432,000, indicating sustained interest and support from retail investors for the token. Additionally, some investors appear to be buying the dip, betting on another price increase.
Technical Analysis: Can $PEPE Break Through the Resistance Level of $0.0000159?
Technical analysis indicates that if $PEPE breaks the immediate resistance level and closes above $0.0000159 on the daily chart, it could rise another 31%, potentially reaching the next resistance level around $0.00001946 to $0.00002000.
$PEPE/ Source: TradingView
Recently, $PEPE broke out from a symmetrical triangle pattern near $0.00000800, pushing up to a local high.
However, one warning indicator is the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which has risen to 84.16, indicating that the asset is overbought in the short term.
Such situations typically occur before brief consolidation periods and are generally beneficial in a strong uptrend.
If buying pressure remains unchanged, a pullback to the breakout zone between $0.00001050 and $0.00001200 may provide a favorable re-entry opportunity for bullish traders.
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