What's Behind PEPE Meme Coin's Explosive Move? Retail Frenzy Drives 26% Surge

PEPE is having a moment. On January 2, the beloved meme coin sparked a trading frenzy that sent prices jumping roughly 26% in a single day. The token traded around $0.000005106 with over $800 million in daily volume—a reminder that when retail money moves, markets follow.

The Real Drivers Behind This Rally

Retail Traders Are All In

The numbers tell an interesting story. Robinhood users are now sitting on about 8.3% of PEPE’s entire supply, which signals serious accumulation at the grassroots level. This isn’t casual trading—these holders are stacking, not dumping at every price spike. Add viral moments like the official PEPE account posting “We ride at dawn,” and you’ve got the social fuel that keeps meme coins burning hot.

Volume Tells the Real Tale

Trading activity exploded hard. In just 24 hours, volume spiked over 370% to cross $805 million. This kind of spike doesn’t happen on thin liquidity—it means fresh money is actually entering the market, not just algo bots shuffling tokens around.

The Short Squeeze Effect

Here’s where it gets spicy. After weeks of sideways price action, plenty of traders were betting PEPE would drop. Wrong call. When the token suddenly rocketed higher, those short bets turned into forced exits. Nearly $2.65 million in short positions got liquidated in 24 hours alone, with roughly 83% of total liquidations coming from bearish traders. That forced buying pressure added serious fuel to the rally.

Where Could PEPE Head Next?

Trader James Wynn from Hyperliquid threw out a wild prediction: PEPE could hit a $69 billion market cap by year-end—roughly a 32x move from today’s $2.14 billion valuation. His reasoning? PEPE’s social metrics are running circles around similar projects. If that thesis holds, the coin could potentially touch $0.000163 by December 2026.

The big question isn’t whether PEPE can move—it clearly can. It’s whether retail enthusiasm and social hype can sustain a rally of that magnitude. For now, the meme coin has proven it still has gas in the tank.

Current snapshot: PEPE sits at $0.00 with a -6.17% 24-hour change and $4.48M in recent volume. The $2.48B market cap shows this meme hasn’t lost its grip on retail imagination yet.