Benzinga - The PEPE (CRYPTO: PEPE) token, inspired by the "Pepe the Frog" meme, has soared to a $502 million market cap after a staggering 2,100% increase since its launch last month.
Data from Ethereum block explorer Etherscan revealed that PEPE has around 75,000 holders, with some wallets holding over $5 million worth of tokens, not including centralized exchanges.
Over the weekend, the PEPE token experienced a 350% surge, and BitMEX, a derivatives exchange, announced on Tuesday that it would list perpetual swaps for the token.
This move will enable traders to leverage the volatile asset up to 50 times.
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As an ERC-20 token with a supply of 420.69 trillion tokens, PEPE joins the ranks of meme coins, which are tokens inspired by internet memes and popular culture references.
While several Pepe the Frog NFTs and tokens have been released over the years, the latest PEPE token has been particularly successful in capturing the market's attention.
The official Twitter account for Pepe Coin describes it as the "most memeable memecoin in existence," playfully hinting that the reign of dog-themed meme coins is over.
Traders Cashing Out
As the hype around the meme token grows, some early investors have started cashing out.
One trader, who sold $2 million worth of tokens through MetaMask swaps, lost $350,000 due to a 25% slippage caused by minimal liquidity.
Another trader briefly caused the PEPE token's value to plummet by almost 50% when they cashed out $678,000 worth of tokens.
The price volatility of PEPE is reminiscent of Dogecoin's history, with extreme fluctuations resulting from a lack of liquidity or sustainable demand.
As seen in previous cases with Dogecoin, PEPE might face selling pressure once derivative markets are live, as traders attempt to profit from a trend that has typically waxed and waned.
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