Recent on-chain data reveals significant accumulation of PEPE tokens by two large cryptocurrency whales on May 17, 2025. One whale, with wallet address 0x6ea, withdrew 1.79 trillion PEPE tokens valued at roughly $22.35 million from Binance, reducing token liquidity on the exchange and sparking considerable market speculation. This wallet currently holds about $21.9 million worth of PEPE after a slight price decline.
Several hours earlier, another whale, with address 0xaca, acquired 96.9 billion PEPE tokens worth $1.28 million via Kucoin. The inflows by these whales come amid a broader downward trend in memecoin prices, with PEPE losing 8% in the last 24 hours, and Pi Coin declining 11%. The general altcoin market also experienced declines, with memecoins suffering the sharpest losses.
Trading volume for PEPE surged to approximately $916 million, pushing its market capitalization close to $4 billion. The price currently trades around $0.00001222, with a resistance level near $0.0000124, marking a crucial point for price movements.
Market analysts note that whale accumulation often indicates potential for short-term rallies, though they carry risks of volatility and rapid sell-offs. Historical patterns in similar memecoins like Dogecoin show that large whale activities can trigger sharp speculative spikes but also increase chances of price swings and 'rug-pull' risks if whales choose to offload holdings suddenly.
This whale activity follows a two-year period of dormancy for at least one of these wallets, suggesting potential shifts in market dynamics for the PEPE memecoin. Observers and experts remain cautious but attentive to further wallet movements that may influence the memecoin’s future price trajectory.