What happened?
PEPE has been the worst-performing top-5 meme coin in 2025, plunging more than 72% year-to-date and dropping another 2% in the last 24 hours for a 20% weekly loss. Trading volume remains unusually high at about $680 million while futures open interest has fallen to its lowest level since April. Technicals show the token sitting on a key support around $0.0000055, and some analysts are calling a possible big rebound if traders jump back in.
Who does this affect?
Short-term traders and leveraged futures holders are most at risk because collapsing open interest and volatile moves can trigger liquidations and sudden losses. Long-term meme-coin investors and speculators also feel the pain from heavy YTD declines, though they’d benefit if a bounce toward the suggested targets occurs. New projects and presale investors—like those backing Pepenode—are affected too, since capital and attention can quickly shift from beaten-down tokens into fresh, high-yield opportunities.
Why does this matter?
Low open interest combined with high volume often precedes sharp reversals, so a PEPE turnaround could spark quick, large moves across the meme-coin market. A sustained rally toward levels like $0.000009–$0.000025 would likely reignite risk appetite and pull money back into similar tokens, amplifying market-wide gains. Conversely, continued weakness could drain liquidity and push retail capital into new presales and M2E projects, changing where short-term crypto flows go next.