Pepe the Frog, the internet’s amphibian turned meme icon, has hopped onto a new platform – the crypto exchange Bitstamp. This milestone listing sparked a 31% price surge for Pepe’s namesake cryptocurrency, PEPE, but questions linger about its long-term hop potential.
Bitstamp Welcomes PEPE
The listing, announced on February 13th, offered PEPE increased legitimacy and exposure to Bitstamp’s 4 million users across 100 countries. The price responded accordingly, jumping from $0.00000098 to $0.000001244 within 24 hours. A weekly rally of over 30% added to the bullish sentiment.
New listings alert!
We’re welcoming $LMWR, $PEPE and $BLUR.
LMWR empowers content creators, PEPE adds fun to crypto, and BLUR brings novelty to the NFTs.
Trade now: https://t.co/daPsgFXEBq#LMWR #PEPE #BLUR pic.twitter.com/4dZ9qmbCla
— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) February 13, 2024
However, defying expectations, the listing didn’t trigger the explosive price gains often seen after major exchange entrances. Experts scratched their heads as PEPE struggled to breach the $0.00000125 resistance level – a crucial hurdle coinciding with the 50-day moving average, a key indicator of long-term trends.
The bulls weren’t deterred. Despite sellers cashing in on the initial rise, another attempt is underway, with PEPE reaching intraday highs of $0.0000012 at press time.
But a closer look reveals a mixed picture. Short positions on PEPE still marginally outweigh long positions, suggesting some underlying bearishness. While OKX users exhibit unusual optimism with a 2.7:1 long-to-short ratio, the broader market remains cautiously perched on the fence.
However, one arena where PEPE shines is trading volume. In the derivatives market, it raked in a whopping $56.35 million, surpassing Shiba Inu ($35.28 million) and Bonk ($32.07 million) during the same period. This suggests significant investor interest, despite the price hesitation.
Another positive hop was made in European adoption. Bitstamp’s European presence and announcement on Twitter suggest PEPE is inching towards wider continental acceptance.
So, will PEPE finally croak past the resistance and leap to new heights? The answer, like the meme itself, remains shrouded in a bit of internet mystery. While the listing and initial price increase are encouraging, the muted market reaction and technical hurdles raise questions. Investors should carefully consider their own risk tolerance before joining the Pepe frenzy.
In related developments, the combined order book for PEPE has seen a massive surge, according to the most recent blockchain statistics. The derivatives trading volume for the meme currency has increased by 115% in the last 24 hours, totaling $58.35 million.
The balance between pending purchases and pending sales, however, is skewed in favor of the bears. Despite the 180% increase in cryptocurrency traders ready to purchase PEPE, the uneven order book, which topped $10 million in pending sales in the last day, indicates that many PEPE investors are cashing out at the present price range, according to CoinPaprika, a platform for cryptocurrency research.
Featured image from Freepik, chart from TradingView
