Pepe price retreated on Saturday, May 24, mirroring the performance of Bitcoin and other altcoins.
Pepe (PEPE), the second-biggest Ethereum (ETH) meme coin, dropped to $0.000014, down by 14% from its highest point this week.
The retreat happened as market risks increased on Friday following Donald Trump’s threat to impose higher tariffs on European goods and Apple products. Subsequently, the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies dropped from over $3.5 trillion on Friday to $3.4 trillion on Saturday.
Pepe has also retreated as on-chain data shows that the supply held by whales continued falling this week. Santiment data shows that whales hold about 141.2 trillion coins valued at $1.4 billion, down from 165 trillion in February. Their current holdings is the smallest it has been since November last year.
More data by Nansen shows that smart money investors have been reducing their holdings in the past few months. These investors hold 244 billion worth of Pepe, down from 380 billion a year earlier.
Nansen defines smart money investors as sophisticated and highly experienced holders who have demonstrated substantial success over time. These investors are normally quick to spot trend reversals.
There are also concerns that Pepe balances on exchanges has started rising. There were 252.9 trillion Pepe coins on exchanges on Saturday, up from this week’s low of 251.3 trillion.
An increase in these balances is often a red flag since it signals that more investors are moving them from self-custody and selling.
Pepe price technical analysis
On the positive side, Pepe has strong technicals, which could draw smart money and whales. The daily chart shows that it is about to form a golden cross pattern as the 200-day and 50-day Exponential Moving Averages near their crossover. This crossover often leads to more gains in the long term.
Pepe has also formed a rounded bottom pattern, which often leads to a continuation. Therefore, these technicals point to more gains in the coming weeks. A move above this week’s high of $0.00001625 will confirm more gains, potentially to a record high of $0.00002840.
