- PEPE faces bearish pressure as Open Interest falls and funding turns negative.
- Top holders are reducing exposure while exchange supply continues climbing.
- Losing $0.00000279 support could expose PEPE to roughly 20% downside.
PepeCoin — PEPE, is struggling to regain momentum after Monday’s sharp 5% decline. Retail demand has weakened across the meme coin market. Futures traders also show growing caution around PEPE. Open Interest has fallen sharply alongside a negative funding rate. Meanwhile, top holders continue reducing their balances. Exchange reserves have also climbed over the past week. Together, these signals could create stronger selling pressure. PEPE now faces a crucial technical test that could trigger deeper losses.
PEPE Loses Momentum as Traders Turn Cautious
PEPE showed signs of recovering retail demand during the past three weeks. However, that improvement has started fading across several important market indicators. CoinGlass data shows that Monday’s 5% decline came with a sharp drop in futures activity. PEPE futures Open Interest fell nearly 15% during the same period. The decline points to a lower notional value of active perpetual contracts.
More importantly, the move suggests traders are becoming less willing to maintain leveraged positions. The funding rate also adds to the growing bearish picture. PEPE’s funding rate dropped to -0.0081% during the latest session. Negative funding usually shows that short positions currently carry greater demand. Traders may therefore expect additional weakness rather than an immediate recovery.
The shift also matters because PEPE depends heavily on speculative interest. When retail enthusiasm fades, meme coins can struggle to attract fresh buying pressure. On-chain activity provides another warning for PEPE holders. Santiment data shows that major addresses have reduced their PEPE balances. Top addresses held around 164.65 trillion PEPE on Monday.
PEPE Price Faces a Critical Technical Breakdown
PEPE currently maintains a bearish near-term structure on the daily chart. Price remains below both the 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages. Those averages currently sit around $0.00000285 and $0.00000311, respectively. Both levels now create important resistance for any attempted recovery. PEPE needs to reclaim these averages before buyers can establish stronger short-term control.
The immediate battle remains around the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level. Analysts measured the retracement from $0.00000459 to $0.00000223. The 23.6% level currently sits near $0.00000279. PEPE is testing this area as a key support zone. Buyers must defend the level to prevent the bearish structure from gaining further momentum.
A decisive daily close below $0.00000279 could create another wave of selling. Such a breakdown would expose the Fibonacci anchor near $0.00000233. That move would represent roughly 20% downside from the current area. Traders may therefore watch the $0.00000279 support closely over the coming sessions. Losing that level could quickly shift attention toward lower price targets.
