The rise of meme coins as a legitimate investment opportunity has surprised many in the financial world. These coins, which were originally created as a joke or as a meme, have become serious investments for some individuals and entities. Shiba Inu [SHIB], for instance, has already generated significant profits for some investors. Although some believe that the hype surrounding meme coins has died down and that it is no longer possible to make a significant profit from them, a new meme-inspired coin has recently emerged that appears to have the prospect to create millionaires.
An early Shiba Inu investor seems to have found interest in these newly found meme coins. Recent data shows that this investor who previously purchased SHIB at very low rates had pocketed PEPE and WOJACK. According to Lookonchain, the investor bought 188.65 billion SHIB with $96.5K back in January 2021. This individual went on to make a $1.18 million profit shortly after selling 95.3 billion SHIB tokens.
As seen in the tweet, the investor went on to purchase 72.83 billion PEPE and 529 million WOJAK tokens. This is certainly a hefty investment considering the fact that both these meme coins are new to the ecosystem.
PEPE shorters are at a loss as its market cap inches closer to $1 billion
The crypto-verse was certainly moving on from meme coins like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin onto PEPE. The increased returns that its investors are currently bagging proves its popularity.
However, this led to several skeptics betting against the price of PEPE or shorting the asset. Unfortunately, some shorters went underwater as PEPE kept soaring. In the last 24 hours, data indicate that short positions against PEPE on exchanges have lost a significant amount of money, specifically $11 million.
It appears that the losses incurred by shorters on PEPE extend to specific cryptocurrency exchanges that began offering futures trading over the last week. Among them, OKX recorded the highest losses with traders losing $5.5 million. Huobi also saw significant losses of $2.2 million, while Bybit experienced a loss of $3.6 million. Finally, BitMEX witnessed only minor losses amounting to a few hundred thousand dollars.
There is a possibility that the situation could reverse soon since the funding rate for PEPE is currently in the negative zone. This suggests that short positions have been more dominant than long positions. As this trend continues, the possibility of a short squeeze becomes more likely. While short squeezes can lead to significant price rallies, they can also cause sudden and sharp price drops.
Amidst this, the market cap of PEPE was seen rising to a high of $1 billion. Earlier today, the asset’s market valuation soared to $970 million. At press time, PEPE was trading for $0.00000196 with a 50.6% daily surge.