Pepe Coin's Unstoppable Rise: Short Traders Left Scratching their Heads
The cryptocurrency market has been buzzing with the incredible rise of the meme coin Pepe (PEPE), which has seen its market capitalization soar to more than $800 million. The token has surged by nearly 50% in the past 24 hours and its trading volume has exceeded a staggering $646 million.
The token is based on Pepe the Frog, an internet meme that was labeled a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League after it was adopted by alt-right groups. Pepe Coin has gained significant traction, surpassing both Shiab Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) in trading volume, making it a dominant force in the meme coin market.
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The world's largest exchange Binance has also announced that it will be listing PEPE in the Innovation Zone.
Although the rise of Pepe Coin has been meteoric, there have been concerns about its sustainability. These concerns were fueled by the apparent number of whales who purchased PEPE in the hours after its launch in mid-April.
One trader, in particular, acquired a staggering four trillion units of Pepe for 2.1 ETH, equivalent to $4,410 at the time of purchase. While the trader subsequently sold a substantial portion of the Pepe, a balance of less than one trillion remained. The trader's profit amounted to a jaw-dropping $1.71 million.
The buzz surrounding the meme coin, made it an attractive target for short traders. However, Pepe Coin's short traders have lost millions in the past 24 hours as the token's value surged. According to CoinGlass, shorts against Pepe lost at least $10 million on several exchanges in the past 24 hours. Traders lost $4.5 million on crypto exchange OKX alone, making it the highest figure among counterparts.
Huobi saw losses of $2.4 million, Bybit suffered losses of $3.6 million, and BitMEX lost a few hundred thousand dollars. All these exchanges started offering Pepe futures trading in the past week. Pepe losses were third only to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures liquidations, which usually rack up the highest futures losses.
