Pepe soared to a new high on Sunday, starting off the second week of December on a high note. The memecoin previously went through a consolidation phase that saw it struggle to rally past mid-November highs.
The PEPE memecoin had an overall bullish month in November. However, the second half of the month saw it struggle to sustain the bullish momentum. Things took an interesting turn at the end of last week as the bulls regained control during the weekend.
A 25% rally on Saturday propelled PEPE out of the consolidation zone, putting it on the path to a new ATH. It followed up with more upside on Sunday, with a new ATH at $0.00002715.
PEPE was already in overbought territory at the time of writing according to the RSI. However, there is a chance that it could still push higher this week.
PEPE crypto achieves record demand in derivatives
PEPE’s rally in November was accompanied by strong derivatives demand with open interest peaking at $309 million. The latest rally in the last few days was fueled by even higher inflows, as open interest reached a new peak at $361.28 million.
The renewed surge in OI confirms that the memecoin can still command a lot of attention. The situation was similar on the spot segment. Inflows peaked at $70.39 million on Saturday and $31.93 million on Sunday.
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The recent wave of bullish momentum also propelled PEPE’s marketcap to new highs. Its marketcap hovered above $11 billion at press time.
A double top or the start of a fresh rally?
While the latest PEPE rally has pushed to new highs, the big question is whether this momentum can continue before the end of the year. For starters, the rally appeared to be resuming its uptick after taking a break for the last 2 weeks.
On the other hand, PEPE may have just formed a double top, which could be followed by a surge in sell pressure. The first option will require sustained demand while profit taking and strong sell pressure could put it on the path of retracement.
A double top may be the case considering the formation of bearish divergence with the RSI. In addition, there was a spike in PEPE-related negative funding rates mostly on Crypto.com. This could be indication that the surge in open interest also includes short positions.
PEPE balances by time held may further support the expectations of sell pressure. The dip from the previous peak on 13 November was characterized by a sharp drop in holder balances.
Holder Balance Highlights a Pretty Picture
The holder balances dipped sharply from 174.93 trillion PEPE to 72.85 trillion PEPE. This was a sign of heavy profit-taking by this particular cohort.
Cruisers or swing traders have also been taking profits in the last 2 months. Traders grew considerably in the last 4 weeks, especially between 11 November and 15 November.
Traders held 45.32 trillion coins as of 11 November and their balances have since grown to 202.33 trillion coins recently. This suggests that short term traders provided exit liquidity for the long term holders and swing traders.
Short term traders held the majority of PEPE coins at the time of observation. This means PEPE could be subject to short term directional swings.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2024/12/09/pepe-crypto-aces-a-new-ath-but-theres-a-bearish-catch/