Pepe (CRYPTO: PEPE) surged 17% Monday, leading memecoin gainers and outpacing Dogecoin’s (CRYPTO: DOGE) 4% rally as trading volume exploded 520% to $1.73 billion.

The Derivatives Setup

Open interest on PEPE futures climbed 11.56% to $228.54 million while 24-hour trading volume exploded 520.51% to $1.73 billion, signaling fresh money entering rather than just short covering. 

Liquidation data showed $98,000 in short liquidations over four hours versus $327,000 in longs, suggesting the rally caught a significant portion of the short side offside while skeptics remained.

PEPE had been more aggressively sold than Dogecoin, setting up a cleaner derivatives squeeze when the macro tailwind arrived. The volume wave dwarfed PEPE’s 30-day average of 1.23 trillion tokens.

The Technical Picture

PEPE’s daily chart had been grinding lower within a descending channel since summer 2025 highs through a sequence of lower highs and lower lows. 

All four EMAs remained stacked bearishly above price, with the 200 EMA sitting at $0.00000598, nearly 53% above current levels.

The immediate resistance wall sits between $0.0000050 and $0.0000052. 

Breaking above opens the door toward the $0.0000077-$0.0000080 band, a key supply zone. Support on pullbacks is expected around $0.0000033.

Dogecoin climbed nearly 4% to $0.10127 but underperformed dramatically. DOGE’s chart shows a steep descending channel from its October 2025 peak near $0.29, with all EMAs fanning bearishly overhead. 

Moreover, the 200 EMA at $0.14393 remains a distant ceiling.

The Macro Catalyst

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) cleared $73,500 and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) recovered past $2,200 after weeks of pressure, historically unlocking appetite for risk further down the market-cap ladder where meme tokens live.

The VIX dropped 10.22% to 24.41 as U.S. equity indices posted solid gains, with the Nasdaq adding 1.3% and the S&P 500 rising 1%. 

Analysts pointed to easing geopolitical tensions between Washington and Tehran, which had weighed on risk assets through early March.

The broader memecoin market capitalization rose to $33.31 billion. 

Beyond PEPE and DOGE, Bonk (CRYPTO: BONK) added nearly 10%, while Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (CRYPTO: FET) led the entire top-100 with a 26% surge on Monday.

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