PEPE Price Risks Erasing January Gains as Liquidity Flees to ‘White House-Shilled’ PENGUIN

Over the weekend, the memecoin market took a surreal turn as a single White House post rewired attention, liquidity, and narrative.

While PEPE, which had a good start to the year, dropped, a new Solana memecoin, Nietzschean Penguin (PENGUIN), skyrocketed

In fact, the PENGUIN token’s price has climbed more than 1,500% in the past seven days.

At some point, its market cap hit $170 million before recently retracing. In this analysis, CCN reveals how the rise of the PENGUIN memecoin has derailed PEPE’s momentum.

PENGUIN Token Overshadows Other Memecoins

It started with a gaffe.

On Jan. 23, the official White House account shared an AI-generated image of President Trump walking hand in hand with a penguin in a snowy environment.

Notably, people saw that as a sign that the U.S. will continue its efforts to own Greenland.

The caption was simple: “Embrace the penguin.”

The internet noticed immediately. Penguins do not live in Greenland. They belong to the Southern Hemisphere.

Crypto reacted even faster. Traders latched onto the absurdity and turned it into a ticker.

Within 48 hours, PENGUIN exploded from a $300,000 market cap to a peak near $170 million.

Interestingly, it was not only the official White House account that shared a similar post.

Others, including the Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Response account, posted their own version of the imagery.

Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy shared a modified version of the meme on his official X account.

PEPE vs. PENGUIN: Attention Rotates

As PENGUIN ripped, PEPE’s price stalled.

As seen below, the frog-themed memecoin is showing signs of fatigue.

After gaining 65% in early January, PEPE is now down nearly 15% over the past week, while hovering near $0.0000080.

Capital is clearly rotating.

On-chain data indicates whales are exiting Ethereum-based memes like PEPE and SHIB and pursuing faster narratives on Solana.

One viral story says it all: a trader reportedly turned $867 into $1.4 million by catching PENGUIN early.

That kind of return doesn’t just attract attention. Instead, it drains it from everywhere else, which is what seems to have affected PEPE’s price.

At press time, PENGUIN’s price wobbles around $0.087 while PEPE stands near $0.0000049.

PEPE Sees Bearish Momentum

PEPE’s underperformance is evident on the 4-hour chart. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) has flipped bearish, with the 26 EMA (orange) holding above the 12 EMA (blue).

The histogram remains small and mostly red, signaling weak momentum and thin demand. As a result, every slight bounce runs into sellers quickly.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI )tells the same story. At the time of writing, the RSI sits around 41.59, which keeps it below the neutral 50 line.

Importantly, RSI is not oversold yet, so the market still has room to push lower without triggering an automatic mean-reversion bid. That failure to reclaim the midline also shows a lack of bullish conviction.

Price structure confirms the risk. As shown below, PEPE’s price is sliding toward the lower edge of its recent range and now floats just above the $0.0000045 support zone.

This area has held as a short-term floor. However, repeated retests weaken support over time because each bounce consumes more resting buy liquidity.

If PEPE closes below that band and fails to quickly reclaim it, selling could accelerate, exposing deeper retracement levels and potentially wiping out a large chunk of its January gains.

PEPE Price Prediction: No Rally Yet

On the daily chart, PEPE’s price has dropped sharply as attention continues to rotate toward PENGUIN, especially after fresh momentum tied to the White House narrative.

As a result, the move highlights a clear redistribution of speculative capital across the memecoin sector.

Momentum confirms the weakness. For instance, the Awesome Oscillator (AO) has decisively flipped into negative territory, signaling that bullish pressure has broken and sellers are now setting the pace.

At the same time, the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) remains below zero and continues to trend lower. That matters because it points to sustained capital outflows, not just brief volatility or a one-day shakeout.

Fibonacci levels add structure to the decline. PEPE’s price has lost its prior consolidation zone and now trades inside a descending channel formed from the bull flag, which keeps downside pressure active on the higher timeframe.

Moreover, the most recent rebound attempt failed near the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement around $0.0000074, where sellers quickly stepped back in and forced another rejection.

Since then, price has resumed its slide and fallen back below the 0.236 retracement, now hovering near $0.0000049.

As long as PEPE stays capped beneath that area, upside attempts are likely to run into persistent resistance rather than develop into a reversal. If that is the case, the price might decline to $0.0000028.

However, the bearish setup is not permanent. If PEPE’s price can reclaim key resistance and push back above the 0.382 Fib level, it would signal that buyers have regained control and are driving it toward $0.000010.

In that scenario, momentum could reset, and PEPE could begin rebuilding a more substantial support for another upward leg.

About the Author

Victor Olanrewaju

Victor Olanrewaju is a crypto analyst and reporter at CCN with deep roots in on-chain research and technical analysis. His crypto journey began in 2017, but it was the 2020 Uniswap airdrop that sparked a full-time pivot into the space.

With a foundation in copywriting, Victor honed his craft creating high-converting content for leading crypto brokers — most notably an XRP price prediction that ranked #1 on Google during the 2021 bull run.

He later joined AMBCrypto in 2022, where he combined storytelling with technical and on-chain analysis to cover key market narratives.

In 2024, he expanded his expertise at BeInCrypto, collaborating with analysts and using tools like Glassnode, Santiment, and IntoTheBlock to break down Bitcoin and altcoin trends.

At CCN, Victor covers the top cryptocurrencies, memecoins, macro shifts, blending real-time insights with deep-dive metrics.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Ibadan, equipping him to simplify complex data for a wide audience. Follow his work or connect on LinkedIn or X.

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