PEPE Pump and Dump: From $1.8B Market Cap to $800M in 4 Days, Hype Over?

Trending memecoin Pepecoin (PEPE) has plummeted by more than 55% in the last four days after a remarkable performance turned several investors into overnight millionaires. 

The memecoin, which jumped to the 45th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization within three weeks after its launch, began a downward spiral on Friday, May 5, after it was listed for trading on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. 

PEPE Drops 55% From ATH

At the time of the Binance listing announcement on Friday, PEPE was worth $0.000002023. The news drove the craze around the memecoin, and its price skyrocketed to an all-time high (ATH) of $0.000004354. 

However, the token’s price has since plunged roughly 56%, as early investors likely withdraw their profits. At the time of writing, PEPE was trading at $0.000001948, signaling a 14% drop in the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The decline in PEPE’s price also affected its market cap, which moved from less than a million dollars at its launch in mid-April to more than $1.2 billion on Friday. The asset’s market cap is now just over $764 million, with the token shredding more than $400 million in the past few days.

The price drop is likely aggravated by traders taking profits from their positions and leveraging alternative trading strategies following the release of various PEPE perpetual futures contracts in the past week. 

A Monday tweet by on-chain analytics platform Santiment suggested that the increasing number of ETH deposits could be attributed to PEPE traders converting their profits to the digital asset. On-chain data shows that exchange addresses interacting on the Ethereum network are now at a peak seen since November 2021.

Is the Hype Over?

Following PEPE’s plunge, speculations have emerged about the token taking the same path its predecessors created. Memecoins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which had similar experiences with PEPE, have plummeted significantly from their ATH as the hype around them has died down.

In addition, PEPE’s lack of utility and intrinsic value has fueled the belief that the asset’s soaring price is only temporary, making investors doubt if it is here to stay.