PEPE Unlikely To Be As Big As DOGE & SHIB, Says Santiment

May 16, 2023

Here’s how the growth in PEPE has so far compared with that of its predecessor meme coins: Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogecoin (DOGE).

PEPE’s Peak Trading Volume Hasn’t Been Near DOGE Or SHIB’s Yet

Pepe Coin, a token based on the popular internet frog meme avatar, suddenly burst into the scene last month. The coin has enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity, with its best period coming in the first week of this month, where it registered a price increase of more than 1,000%.

Since this amazing rally earlier in the month, however, the cryptocurrency has seemed to have run out of steam. Nonetheless, market participants have still been wondering about the long-term prospects of the coin, as the meme coin has been looked at as the next big thing after DOGE and SHIB.

But cab PEPE really compare with these top two meme coins by market cap?

In its latest insight, the on-chain analytics firm Santiment has compared a couple of metrics between these three assets, to see where PEPE stands against them.

The first indicator of interest here is the “trading volume,” which is a measure of the daily total amount of a given cryptocurrency that’s being transacted on the blockchain.

Here is a chart that highlights how the trading volume for PEPE has looked recently, as well as the behavior the indicator showed during the respective peaks of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu:

As displayed in the above graph, PEPE has observed a peak trading volume of $2 billion so far, which is quite sizeable in isolation, but when compared to what Dogecoin and Shiba Inu saw during their best periods, the spike appears very small.

Naturally, these humongous spikes in DOGE’s and SHIB’s trading volumes occurred only later in the lifetimes of the assets, while the frog is still very much in its infancy.

“Although PEPE’s trading volume is significantly lower, it leaves room for growth and untapped potential,” explains Santiment.

“However, it also means that the liquidity and retail participation in the market for PEPE is far less than what DOGE and SHIB experienced in previous years. In fact, it seems the retail landscape has changed dramatically, with retail participation appearing nearly nonexistent,” the on-chain data aggregator added.

The other metric of relevance here is the “social volume,” which tells us about the degree of discussions that a certain cryptocurrency is receiving on social media platforms.

The below chart shows the trend in this indicator for the three meme coins:

In terms of discussions happening on Twitter, PEPE has actually been on par with DOGE and SHIB during their peak periods. “However, when it comes to mainstream media coverage, PEPE falls short,” notes the analytics firm. “While DOGE was discussed on national television, PEPE remains primarily confined to the realm of crypto Twitter.”

Based on the fact that retail engagement and mainstream attention have been low for the coin, Santiment has concluded that while the frog-based meme coin could have the potential for further growth, it’s unlikely that it touches the same height as its predecessors.