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Here’s What Drove PEPE Coin’s 17% Surge in 24 Hours

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Here’s What Drove PEPE Coin’s 17% Surge in 24 Hours

The memecoin sector is leading the gains over this week as the crypto market appears to be rebounding. Pepe (PEPE) coin was among the top meme coins that depicted strength across different metrics.

In the past 24 hours, the PEPE coin price rose by 17%, outpacing all other meme coins in the top 200 cryptos by market cap. These gains pushed the weekly gains to about 23%, but PEPE coin price still remained 73% below its all-time high (ATH) of $0.00002809.

Hence, what was behind this bullish rally in PEPE, and can this trend continue?

PEPE Coin Price Rallies as Social Sentiment Spikes to New Highs

This week’s rally was mainly driven by a spike in social sentiment, alongside coins in sectors such as Layer 1 (L1) blockchain and AI agents. In fact, PEPE ranked third, behind the latter two, in terms of volume growth.

Looking at the raw data from LunarCrush, it indicated that PEPE saw about 5.9 million engagements in the last 24 hours. This was the highest social sentiment in 52 weeks, which was 124% above the daily average. From a weekly perspective, the engagements were at 20.43 million.

Pepe coin social sentiment data | Source: LunarCrush
Pepe coin social sentiment data | Source: LunarCrush

Moreover, this spike in sentiment was backed by rising trading volume. The $1.1 billion in trades represented a 250% increase over the last 90 days. LunarCrush showed that PEPE’s rank in this metric jumped from position 177 to 3 this week alone.

While PEPE coin was driven by these fundamentals, its behavior was an anomaly. In the past, memecoin rallies happened in isolation, but this time they were trending alongside other sectors like L1 and AI agents.

Meme Coin Performance Outpaces All Other Crypto Sectors

Another reason the PEPE coin price jumped by double digits was the overall strength in the sector. The recent performance data showed that the meme coin sector led the market this week, clocking 12% gains. These gains were double that of the second-placed AI sector, which recorded 6%.

This strength showed that meme coins were in the spotlight, thereby attracting capital. With PEPE still ranking among the top 50 coins by market capitalization, it has gained traction as the fourth-most-capped memecoin.

Sector performance in crypto | Source: CRG/X
Sector performance in crypto | Source: CRG/X

Other sectors also trended to the upside this week, with L1, DeFi, L2, and gaming following suit. Their returns ranged between 3% and 5%.

From the data, PEPE coin price rally was driven by social sentiment, volume, and overall sector strength, but can this be sustained?

PEPE Coin Price Prediction: Why Is the Analyst Still Not Convinced?

Since the start of the year, PEPE coin price has had some violent moves to the upside, though they have not been sustainable. The year started with a move from $0.000003800 to levels above $0.000007000.

Every uptrend has been followed by gradual grinding to the downside, which is why Altcoin Sherpa was not convinced. The whipsaw price action made it difficult for traders to hold positions for long.

PEPE price action chart | Source: Altcoin Sherpa/X
PEPE price action chart | Source: Altcoin Sherpa/X

PEPE is now in its third volatile move to the upside, but price action seems to be cooling off. This movement on the chart showed that the memecoin was aligning with Solana’s (SOL) price movement.

Both assets were retesting their broken range’s highs. SOL price was testing $92.5, while PEPE coin was trading above $0.000003600. This meant that the crypto market was moving in sync. However, the data showed Solana was defending its level better than PEPE.

Solana vs. PEPE price action chart | Source: TradingView
Solana vs. PEPE price action chart | Source: TradingView

Altogether, if the crypto market maintains this strength, PEPE may surge to at least its yearly high of $0.0000070. Otherwise, breaking and holding below $0.0000036 would invalidate this uptrend.

lennox gitonga
Written by
Crypto Analyst

Lennox is a professional financial market analyst who's enthusiastic about blockchain, cryptos, and web3. He started blogging about cryptos back in 2019 and has since never looked back. His work revolves around looking at crypto-projects analytically on a technical and on-chain level, while also making sure it's palatable to the general audience.

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About this article

PublishedMarch 18, 2026 10:23 am
Last updatedMarch 18, 2026 7:29 am
Written bylennox gitonga, Crypto Analyst
ReviewedFact-checked by the TMP editorial desk

This report follows our Editorial Policy, Fact-Checking Standards and Code of Ethics. Found an inaccuracy? See Corrections.

Disclaimer. Informational only, not financial advice. Crypto, forex and stocks are volatile, high-risk assets — always do your own research and consult a qualified adviser.

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