The yr 2026 has begun strongly for PEPE, the favored meme coin impressed by Pepe the Frog. On the second day of the brand new yr, PEPE’s worth elevated by greater than 20%.
What’s driving this rally, and is the momentum sturdy sufficient to kick off a meme season in early 2026?
Sponsored
James Wynn Predicts PEPE Market Cap Reaching $69 Billion in 2026
James Wynn, a widely known dealer on Hyperliquid, not too long ago predicted that PEPE might attain a market capitalization of as much as $69 billion by the top of 2026. The forecast has energized the funding neighborhood and triggered heavy shopping for.
When PEPE’s market cap stood at simply $600,000, Wynn believed it might develop right into a multi-billion-dollar asset. He reportedly earned tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the commerce, with all exercise recorded on-chain.
In his newest outlook, Wynn in contrast PEPE to SHIB, a token that surged from $3.5 billion to $41 billion in underneath one month throughout the earlier cycle. Based on Wynn, PEPE’s social metrics are considerably stronger, suggesting it might obtain an analogous efficiency.
“Now, I’m calling PEPE to go from $1.7 billion to $69 billion+ in 2026 or I delete my account.” – James Wynn predicted.
PEPE Worth Efficiency in Early 2026. Supply: TradingViewSponsored
Worth charts present that shortly after Wynn posted his prediction, PEPE’s worth climbed almost 20%. At present, PEPE’s market capitalization is roughly $2 billion. Wynn’s forecast implies that PEPE’s worth might rise nearly 35 instances its present ranges.
Wynn’s journey with PEPE has not at all times been clean. Throughout PEPE’s worth decline from July onward, he opened extremely leveraged lengthy positions and suffered a number of liquidations.
In the meantime, analyst SΞA defined that PEPE’s rally was pushed by the affect of US tax guidelines, particularly tax-loss harvesting.
SΞA famous that on the finish of 2025, many U.S. traders had been sitting on losses and selected to promote on the final minute. This transformed “paper losses” into “realized losses” to cut back their tax burden.
Sponsored
As the brand new 2026 tax yr started, traders who remained bullish on PEPE rushed to purchase again their positions instantly. PEPE’s 24-hour buying and selling quantity surpassed $600 million, marking the very best degree up to now month, in keeping with CoinGecko.
A number of Meme Cash Rally in Early 2026, Reviving Hopes of a Meme Season
Alongside PEPE, a number of different meme cash posted sturdy positive aspects at the beginning of 2026. Milady Cult Coin (CULT), for instance, doubled in worth after Vitalik acknowledged “Milady is back” and altered his avatar to a Milady picture. Floki (FLOKI) additionally rebounded by 10%.
“God candles PEPE. Full blow meme season loading. Pepe always leads for bullis meme indicators.” – Investor POΞ predicted.
Sponsored
Regardless of these remoted surges, most meme cash stay down 70%–90% from their peaks final yr.
CryptoQuant knowledge point out that memecoin dominance stays at low ranges, with no clear indicators of restoration but.
“‘Memecoins died’ → everything died. Literally all altcoins died, not just memes. Whether this bounce sticks remains to be seen. BTC has not shown any strength yet, so the market could easily bart straight back down. Still, memes are usually the fastest horse when even altcoins show the slightest risk-on signal.” – Investor CRG stated.
The meme coin narrative continues to spark debate. Whereas cautious traders concentrate on altcoins with sturdy fundamentals, others argue that meme cash occupy a central place within the consideration economic system. Supporters consider they appeal to retail traders and assist drive total market capitalization progress.
