Investing.com briefly surpassed the $69,000 threshold before quickly retreating as traders began looking elsewhere for higher returns on fringe tokens known as memecoins.
Two tokens within the ecosystem, and MOG, soared to record levels on Monday, continuing last week's impressive rallies. These gains also coincided with a nearly 5% rise in ether. The surge came following the United States' approval of key ether exchange-traded fund filings, prompting traders to view meme tokens as beta bets.
The rise is part of a broader meme coin rally, with most meme-based cryptocurrencies trading in the green. The sector has seen a surge in interest in recent weeks after legendary trader and investor Roaring Kitty returned to the trading world after a three-year absence.
Furthermore, the number of addresses holding meme coins for less than thirty days hit a record high last month, indicating a massive influx of new traders entering the market.
Traders have been considering PEPE and MOG as leveraged ways to gain ether exposure. The rally in these tokens began when analysts increased the likelihood of ether ETFs being approved for trading in the US.
In the last 24 hours, frog-themed PEPE and cat-themed MOG gained 11% and 45%, respectively, as the beta bet narrative gained traction. A beta bet allows investors to gain exposure to a core asset by investing in related networks or protocols. PEPE trading volumes in the spot and futures markets reached more than $1.8 billion, well above the usual range of $400 million to $600 million.
Futures data revealed a massive increase in open interest for instruments tracking PEPE and MOG in the last 24 hours. PEPE's open interest rose to $720 million from $550 million last week, and MOG's rose to $8.3 million from $5 million. An increase in open interest is generally considered an indicator of new capital entering the market, which could lead to greater price volatility.
Despite the bullish sentiment, the PEPE long-short ratio is tilted towards the bears by 54%, indicating that traders are largely betting against further price increases.
PEPE even broke into the top 20 largest tokens by market capitalization, surpassing $6 billion, and provided early investors with decent returns on initial investments as low as $460. Since 2023, meme tokens, which are generally perceived to have no intrinsic value but enjoy a large following, have gained importance as beta bets in their respective ecosystems.
