PEPE: Retail Investors Accumulate While Whales Hold Back – Is a Bullish Breakout Imminent?

As of April 17, 2025, PEPE’s market dynamics reveal an intriguing divergence: retail investors are actively accumulating the token, while whale activity remains subdued. This disparity raises questions about potential upward price movement. Historically, such accumulation phases have preceded significant bullish surprises, as retail FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) often triggers whale re-entry. Key technical indicators, including RSI and volume trends, suggest growing bullish momentum. Market analysts are closely monitoring support and resistance levels, with some predicting a breakout if buying pressure sustains. The interplay between retail demand and whale liquidity could dictate PEPE’s near-term trajectory, making this a critical juncture for traders.

Retail is back, but where are the whales?

On-chain activity suggests that retail interest is slowly returning.

Over the past week, active addresses increased by 0.47%, showing a modest rise in network engagement. However, new addresses dropped by 6.78%, implying limited user growth. 

Additionally, there was a 67.4% increase in transactions valued under $1, reinforcing the idea that smaller traders are accumulating.

In contrast, higher transaction tiers like the $10k–$100k range declined more than 23%, signaling that whale participation has yet to rebound meaningfully.

Source: IntoTheBlock

Volatility, once red-hot, has begun to settle.

Chart breakout, lower volatility: Is PEPE ready to move?

Volatility levels have cooled notably in recent days.

PEPE’s 30-day volatility dropped from 146.37% to 115.24%, suggesting a shift from high uncertainty to more stable price action.

This decline often precedes strong directional moves as market tension builds in consolidation phases.

From a technical perspective, PEPE broke above its recent descending channel and reclaimed the $0.00000700 level.

The 9-day and 21-day moving averages are converging and may cross soon, hinting at a bullish trend change. 

Source: TradingView

Immediate resistance sat at $0.00000737. If that level gave way, $0.00000884 would be next in line.

On the flip side, $0.00000698 remained the key support, keeping the bullish tilt intact as long as it held.

Whale activity paints a mixed picture. Over the past 30 days, large holder inflows dropped by 74.15%, indicating reduced accumulation among major players.

However, outflows also declined sharply by 76.75%, showing that whales are not exiting aggressively. 

Looking at the 90-day trend, inflows dipped slightly by 7.05% while outflows increased by 22.24%, hinting at mild profit-taking but not full distribution. 

Source: IntoTheBlock

Will leveraged shorts fuel PEPE’s next breakout?

In the derivatives market, open interest declined by 3.8% to $288.14 million, highlighting cautious sentiment and reduced leverage.

However, liquidation heatmap data from Bitget reveals dense short liquidation zones between $0.0000074 and $0.0000076. 

If bulls manage to push the price above this zone, forced buybacks could trigger a cascading rally. This liquidity pocket could catalyze the next upward move, provided spot demand remains strong.

Source: CoinGlass

PEPE’s recent accumulation, technical breakout, and lowered volatility offer early signs of strength. Nonetheless, whale inactivity and shrinking new address growth suggest that broader conviction is lacking. 

If bulls break above $0.0000076 with volume support, a rally could follow. For now, PEPE’s outlook is cautiously bullish but awaits stronger confirmation from large players.