PEPE, a new meme-coin, has entered a sharp correction phase after surging by more than 2,000% since its debut a few weeks ago. The PEPE price dropped to $0.00000089 on May 3, down about 35% from its record high of $0.00000138 established two days ago. As a result of the correction, its market capitalization slipped by nearly $80 million, thus pushing it out of the top-100 top cryptocurrency index.
Whales Control 45% of Circulating Supply
The top 100 richest PEPE addresses, aka “whales,” control 45% of the token’s circulating supply, according to data tracked by CoinCarp.com. One entity can control more than one address, which gives a limited number of whales more say over the direction of PEPE future price trends, increasing the risk of price manipulation. For instance, Lookonchain revealed that five addresses allegedly linked to the Pepe team made a $1.23 million profit in a thin liquid market.
PEPE Rallied without Concrete Fundamentals
PEPE has rallied without any concrete fundamentals behind it, and the evidence of fewer whales controlling the uptrend could negate the gains in the short term. Technicals concur. The four-hour chart shows that PEPE/USDT has formed higher highs, but its relative strength index (RSI) has formed lower highs since April 30. In other words, a bearish divergence that suggests PEPE’s upside momentum will likely weaken in the short term.
PEPE’s Future Price Movements
The PEPE token is new and thus lacks adequate price history to anticipate its future price movements. Moreover, meme-coins are notorious for their sharp volatility and major price moves. Dogecoin, for instance, has rallied 7,000% since 2020 thanks to vocal support from billionaire investor Elon Musk. Despite these factors, a mix of technical and fundamental indicators hint at further downside for PEPE price. Its daily trading volumes declined across centralized (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) as prices fell, and the Google trends for the keyword “Pepe Coin” suggest that the retail hype has subsided in the past 48 hours. PEPE appears on the road to its 50-4H exponential moving average (50-4H EMA; the red wave) near $0.0000047410, down 20% from current price levels. A further break below the red wave could have the token test the $0.00000020-0.00000017 range as the next downside target.