Pepe, the popular meme coin inspired by the 2000s internet meme Pepe the Frog, has reached a new all-time high (ATH) in less than 24 hours, thanks to a surge in whale activity. The coin, which has gained popularity among the crypto community since its launch in April 2023, has seen an impressive rise of over 40,000%.
The ATH of $0.000020 was reached after trading platform Robinhood announced the listing of the crypto asset. Following a mild correction, Pepe’s price surged even further to reach an ATH of $0.000025. This upward momentum can be attributed to Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections, which sparked growth in the broader crypto market, including meme coins.
At the time of writing, Pepe is still up 80% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $0.000022, with a market cap of $9.8 billion, making it the 14th-largest crypto token in the sector. The daily trading volume of Pepe also rose significantly by 313%, reaching $21.5 billion.
The surge in whale activity around Pepe has been particularly notable, with large transactions of at least $100,000 worth of PEPE increasing from $405 million to $1.66 billion on Nov. 13. Whales made over 3,000 such transactions in a single day, according to data from on-chain analysis platform IntoTheBlock.
However, despite the increase in whale activity, there has also been a massive selloff from Pepe’s largest holders, with whales registering a net outflow of 1.11 trillion PEPE on Wednesday. Typically, selloffs from large holders can trigger a sudden price plunge for crypto assets, especially in the highly volatile meme coin class. In this case, though, retail accumulation seems to have neutralized the impact of the whale sale.
It is expected that the Pepe price could see a price correction before another bull run, given the skyrocketing trading volume and whale activity. The crypto community will be closely watching to see how Pepe’s price evolves in the coming days.