Pepe ( PEPE ), the largest Ethereum-based memecoin by market capitalization, is on track to continue the recovery it began on Nov. 5. PEPE has climbed approximately 230% from its Nov. 5 low of around $0.0000078, bringing its price up to an all-time high of $0.00002597 on Nov. 14. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows PEPE trading at $0.00002093, up 15% over the 24 hours and 104% over the last seven days.

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PEPE/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

PEPE’s trading volume has jumped 124% over the last 24 hours to $19.6 billion, and its market capitalization also jumped, briefly touching $10.2 billion on Nov. 14 before retracing to the current level of $8.8 billion.

Let’s examine the factors that have fueled PEPE’s price momentum over the last week.

PEPE price rises on Coinbase, Robinhood listing

PEPE’s performance comes as several major cryptocurrency exchanges listed the memecoin. On Nov. 13, Robinhood Crypto said that Pepe, Solana ( SOL ), Cardano ( ADA ) and XRP ( XRP ) were available to trade for customers in the United States. 

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Source: Robinhood

Shortly after Robinhood’s announcement, Coinbase also declared that it would list PEPE later on Nov. 13. Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange in the US and the third-largest exchange worldwide by trading volume, so a listing there is expected to send PEPE even higher.

Similarly, Upbit, the largest crypto exchange in South Korea, allowed trading of PEPE trading pairs on Nov. 16. The South Korean exchange is ranked fifth on CoinMarketCap’s top spot exchanges. In the past 24 hours, Upbit has processed over $8.7 billion in trade volume.

The listings come in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as the next US president. While on the campaign trail, Trump promised to remove Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who has repeatedly sued US exchanges for listing speculative tokens like PEPE.

Memecoins flash green across the board

PEPE’s rally on Nov. 14 mirrors bullish price movements across the broader memecoin sector. Most cryptocurrencies in this sector have posted double-digit gains over the last day.

Solana-based Dogwifhat ( WIF ) recorded 30% daily gains, while Base’s Brett ( BRETT ) rallied 38% over the same period. 

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Performance of top-cap memecoins. Source: CoinMarketCap

This widespread rally has pushed the total memecoin market value to $116.5 billion, a 111.5% leap in the past week, as per CoinMarketCap data.

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Memecoin market cap and volume. Source: CoinMarketCap

Over $75.7 billion in memecoin trading volume was recorded in the past 24 hours alone. The resurgence is driven by investors once again embracing risk-on assets like memecoins amid increasing anticipation of a crypto-friendly business environment in the US under Trump’s administration.

Increasing open interest backs PEPE’s upside

The surge in the price of PEPE over the last seven days comes after a significant jump in its open interest (OI) over the same timeframe. 

Open interest is a key metric that traders and analysts use to assess market sentiment and anticipate future price movements. 

PEPE’s total OI on all exchanges rose by 160% from $108 million on Nov. 5 to an all-time high of $282.2 million on Nov. 14.

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PEPE open interest across all exchanges. Source: CoinGlass

Additional data from CoinGlass shows increasing demand for leveraged long positions in PEPE over the last few days, as indicated by the OI-weighted futures funding rate.

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PEPE average perpetual contracts 8-hour funding rate. Source: CoinGlass

Note that the current 0.0327% eight-hour rate translates to a 0.68% cost over seven days, which is significant for traders building futures positions.

Increasing funding rates usually suggests that futures traders are bullish, expecting future price increases, which may indicate a continuation of the uptrend.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.