After Explosive 84% Increase, PEPE Coin Shows Signs of Cooling Off

PEPE price has pulled back from the recent highs as technical indicators point to potential correction. On the other hand, on-chain data shows sustained interest in the meme coin despite the recent liquidations.

PEPE price is showing signs of cooling off after an explosive 84% increase over just three days. The third-largest memecoin on the market recently touched the $0.000015 mark twice but failed to break through, forming what technical analysts call a double top pattern.

PEPE is currently trading at $0.00001399, down 3.19% over the past 24 hours. This pullback comes amid a broader market fluctuation, with Bitcoin also struggling to sustain momentum above $104,000.

On-chain data from DeFI Llama shows a concerning signal for PEPE traders. While the number of pepe holders has risen to over 432,000, signaling sustained retail support for the token, and the total value locked in PEPE has reached a new all-time high of $5.9 billion, another metric suggests a potential correction.

Whale transactions, defined as transfers exceeding $100,000 in value, surged by 257% to reach 720 transactions on May 12. This spike coincided precisely with PEPE’s price peak at $0.000015.

According to previous analysis by Benzinga, such increases in whale activity typically precede market corrections. In prior instances where transaction counts approached 800, we observed large holders, or whales, engaging in profit-taking behavior.

Technical Analysis Points To Potential Correction

The price chart for PEPE shows a clear double top formation, with the cryptocurrency twice failing to break the $0.000015 psychological barrier. This has resulted in a sideways consolidation with $0.001274 acting as the baseline support level.

Relative Strength Index (RSI) displays a concerning bearish divergence, declining from overbought territory towards the middle line even as PEPE attempted to maintain its uptrend. This divergence suggests that buyers are losing momentum.

Moreover, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator has produced a negative crossover, with both MACD and signal lines trending lower. This technical pattern signals growing bearish momentum in the short term.

If PEPE breaks below the $0.001274 neckline support, technical projections suggest a potential 25% decline towards the $0.00001063 level. However, if buyers step in and push the price above the $0.000015 resistance, this bearish outlook would be invalidated.

The broader memecoin market has been heating up recently, with the total sector market cap jumping from $55 billion at the beginning of May to over $72.2 billion just 12 days later—a 45% increase. This rising tide has helped lift PEPE's value, pushing its market cap from $2.4 billion in March to $5.9 billion.

Despite the technical warning signs, market sentiment remains strongly bullish on PEPE. Data from Binance shows that 72% of PEPE traders on the exchange hold long positions, pushing the long/short ratio to 2.57.

Also, the Open Interest on derivatives exchange FTX remains near record highs at $583 million, indicating sustained interest from traders in the cryptocurrency market. This high level of Open Interest might indicate that traders are expecting a significant move in the price of PEPE.

However, derivatives data tells a more cautious story. In the past 24 hours, PEPE’s trading volume dropped by over 20%, and Open Interest declined by 11.42%. This cooling activity resulted in more than $4.71 million in long position liquidations.

This performance aligns with typical memecoin behavior during market liquidity increases. When trading volume returns to the crypto market, memecoins often outperform traditional altcoins due to their volatility and short-term trading potential.

PEPE has retained its position as the third-largest memecoin, trailing only Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB). It also ranks as the third-best performer among memecoins this week, following WIF and PNUT.

If PEPE can break through the immediate resistance at $0.0000159 and close a daily candle above this level, it could potentially gain another 31%, targeting the next resistance zone around $0.00001946 to $0.00002000.

The recent RSI reading of 84.16 indicates that PEPE is currently overbought, which often precedes healthy consolidation periods during strong uptrends. A pullback to the breakout zone between $0