Pepe, a token inspired by the 2000s meme “Pepe the Frog”, witnessed a strong whale sell-off yesterday, December 8, but the asset still remained bullish.
Pepe (PEPE) rose to an intraday high of $0.000027 on Monday, setting a new all-time high and rising almost 2000% since the beginning of the year, making it one of the best-performing assets. While the altcoin’s market capitalization stands at over $11.37 billion, the recent rise increased PEPE’s monthly gains to 157%.
PEPE price and net flows to major shareholders – December 8 | Source: IntoTheBlock
According to IntoTheBlock data, Pepe’s major shareholder net inflow increased from a net inflow of 1.03 billion PEPE valued at approximately $22.66 million on December 6 to 1.96 trillion PEPE valued at over $50.9 million as of Sunday, December 2. It shifted to net outflow of PEPE. 8.
Whale sell-offs usually signal periods of panic or profit-taking, both of which usually result in price declines. At this point, PEPE has recorded a 27.3% price increase over the past week and has not been affected by the big whale sell-off.
Why is PEPE price increasing?
Most of the gains from PEPE came after the meme money made a surprise feature on leading American news channel Fox news. In the broadcast, the meme coin was cited as a good investment alongside Bitcoin.
Additionally, retail investors flocked to buy the altcoin after it was listed on major tier-1 exchanges Coinbase and Robinhood last month, allowing customers to buy PEPE and benefit from the gains.
> Access to Coinbase and Robinhood customers
>Retail has finally emerged, they’ve moved on to tech but they’ll soon remember they outperformed doge and shib
> Pepe starts infiltrating mindshare on reddit and tik-tok
> ETHBTC is (probably) at the bottom
> Still… pic.twitter.com/1ovlLSQAx5
— Doctor (@docXBT) December 9, 2024
According to ITB data, short-term PEPE holders also increased by 263% in the last 30 days, reaching 80,450 unique addresses, causing prices to rise.
Additionally, according to Coinglass data, PEPE’s open positions reached a new peak of $370.8 million, an increase of 9% in the last 24 hours. The term ‘PEPE’ was also seen trending on Google.
Analyst expects 19% increase from current prices
Meanwhile, analysts expect the PEPE price to rise further following the bullish patterns appearing on the daily chart.
According to pseudo-anonymous analyst Kaptan Faibik, PEPE broke the multi-month symmetrical triangle formation that could push its price up to $0.000031 in the short term, up approximately 19% from the current price level.
Another market commentator, nicknamed Chandler Bing, predicted a similar price target, noting that PEPE’s ongoing rise has formed a Cup and Handle formation (a rare bullish signal in technical analysis), indicating the potential for it to continue.
PEPE MACD and ADX chart — December 9 | Source: crypto.news
With the MACD line crossing the signal line, signaling a return to the uptrend, and the Average Direction Index being at 44 (well above the 25 threshold, indicating a strong uptrend), it is highly likely that the price targets suggested by these analysts will be realized in the coming period. days.
However, the token may also see some selling as the recent rally has brought 97.6% of PEPE holders a profit.