182 Billion PEPE in One Hour, What's Happening?

Cover image via U.Today

The frog-themed meme coin PEPE has experienced a significant surge in valuation, positioning it for a potential sell-off by market whales. Within the past 24 hours, PEPE has ascended by 2.15% to $0.00001654, bolstered by a substantial 75% increase over the preceding seven-day period.

PEPE's rally has established a bullish trajectory for other meme coins this month. Historically, PEPE has consistently exhibited bullish momentum in May. According to Cryptorank data, PEPE concluded May 2023 with a 74.9% growth, a figure that is less than half of the 148.2% recorded thus far this month.

This substantial upshoot has propelled PEPE to multiple all-time highs (ATH) this month. On-chain data indicates that the most recent ATH occurred hours prior, when the token soared to $0.00001718. In the wake of this parabolic growth, the crypto analytics platform Lookonchain has reported that two newly created wallets withdrew 182.7 billion PEPE, valued at approximately $3.1 million, from OKX in under an hour.

The movement of such a large volume of PEPE from an exchange is generally interpreted as a vote of confidence, as it suggests a diminished willingness to sell. While a small portion of holders may be seeking to realize profits on their PEPE holdings, the token's whales remain cautious, as evidenced by IntoTheBlock's analysis of holder concentration.

Amidst the bullish trend for PEPE, the digital token is now on the verge of surpassing Polygon in terms of market capitalization.

As of this writing, PEPE's market capitalization stands at $6.98 billion, while Polygon's is pegged at $7.21 billion. Should the current price rally for PEPE continue at its present pace in the short to medium term, it may ultimately surpass not only Polygon but also Near, Bitcoin Cash, Tron, and others, as it previously did with Ethereum Classic.