PEPE price jumped over 25% in early 2026 as a bold $69 billion market cap forecast fueled speculation.
The year 2026 opened with renewed momentum for PEPE, the popular meme-based cryptocurrency. On January 2, within hours, PEPE’s price skyrocketed by over 25%. As a result, traders were eager to shift their focus to meme coins following weeks of dull activity.
PEPE Rally Driven by Bold Market Cap Prediction
The rally followed a high-profile forecast on Hyperliquid by trader James Wynn. He was projecting that PEPE could reach a $69 billion market capitalization by late 2026. Therefore, the said statement immediately sparked the speculative demand on all social platforms and trading venues again.
Back on Day 1 of $PEPE when it was at $600k market cap I called it to go to multiple billions. Ultimate conviction and belief – and it paid off massively.
Now, I’m calling $PEPE to go from $1.7bn to $69bn+ in 2026 or I delete my account.
That’s a 40x, WITH SIZE.… https://t.co/8SaNNJmQs3
— James (Pauly) Wynn (@JamesWynnReal) January 1, 2026
Wynn is known for the early exposure to PEPE during the early growth phase. When PEPE’s market cap was approaching $600,000, he publicly supported the potential. According to the data on the blockchain, he later got tens of millions of dollars from the trade.
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The $69 billion target implies a possible 32-fold increase from current levels. As a result, the forecast caught the attention of many people despite the lack of analyst consensus. Market participants reacted quickly and there was strong spot and derivatives activity.
Trading volume increased very sharply after the prediction. Data provided more than $1 billion in 24-hour volume during the rally. Therefore, there was a major increase in liquidity as short-term traders participated in this move.
At the time of writing, PEPE had a price close to $0.000005. The posted gains for the token are more than 24% in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, its market cap was worth about $2.22 billion.
The circulating supply of PEPE is still extremely large. Current estimates put the number of circulation at about 420.69 trillion tokens. As a result, price movements are thus highly sensitive to sentiment changes, rather than fundamentals.
Meme Coin Volatility Raises Risk Concerns
Despite the rally, analysts called PEPE speculative. The token does not have any inherent utility beyond engagement in the community. Therefore, its valuation is very much dependent on hype, momentum, and social media stories.
The $69 billion projection is still very speculative. It is the opinion of a single trader instead of a general market consensus. Achieving such a valuation would require huge capital inflows as well as sustained interest from retailers.
Market observers also warned investors of downside risks. Meme coins historically lose a large part of their gains after a sharp rise. As a result, prices can drop as fast as they rise in changes of sentiment.
Some investors opine that meme coins still occupy a meaningful place in the market. They think meme assets are attention grabbers and attract new retail participants. For this reason, meme rallies can boost overall market activity on a temporary basis.
Others are sceptical of long-term sustainability. They prefer assets with revenue models, network usage, or technological differentiation. Therefore, debate continues on the role of meme coins in the context of crypto portfolios.
The early 2026 rally prompted renewed speculation of a more expansive meme season. However, meme coin dominance in the entire market is quite small yet. This implies that enthusiasm still is in an isolated rather than systemic manner.
Overall, PEPE’s sharp rise represents speculative appetite coming back early in 2026. While optimism is still observable, risk levels are still high. Therefore, investors are still weighing short-term excitement against the long-term uncertainty.