Why Is PEPE Rising Right Now? Three Explanations Circulate, None Is Documented

PEPE has a strong week behind it. On Sunday, September 20, 2026, the meme coin stands at $0.00000393 according to CoinGecko data, and is therefore 15.4 percent above where it was seven days ago. Several explanations for this are circulating online: whales are said to be buying, a fund is said to be coming, a large token buyback is said to be planned. We looked into which of that is documented.

The result first: what is documented is the price data and the market situation. For the reasons named we found no solid source, but mostly press portals and texts that promote a presale in the same breath. That is no proof against them, but it is no evidence for them either.

PEPE price: the figures at a glance

The daily range ran from $0.0000038 to $0.00000431, and the daily gain comes to 3.4 percent. Over 30 days PEPE is up 10.1 percent. Market capitalization amounts to around $1.65 billion, which puts the coin in 57th place. PEPE worth roughly $531 million changed hands within 24 hours, which is just under a third of the entire market capitalization and, for a coin of this size, a high turnover. There are 420.69 trillion tokens in circulation, a number chosen as an allusion and no longer subject to change. The price is 86 percent away from its all-time high of $0.00002803 from December 2024.

What the data actually says

Three things can be measured, and they explain the move better than any individual report. First, the whole market is friendly: the fear and greed index stands at 71 out of 100 and is therefore in greed territory. Second, smaller coins regularly run harder than Bitcoin in such phases, because the same money produces larger swings there. Third, trading volume in PEPE is high, so it is genuinely being traded and not merely valued. Where sentiment in the overall market currently stands you can see live in our fear and greed index chart.

The three reasons circulating online

The three explanations we came across most often in our search do not stand up to scrutiny. "Whales are buying" rests on analyses by individual analysts who name a quantity but no address and no period that anyone could recalculate. "A fund is coming" goes back to an application we have already reported on; an application is not an approval. And the large token buyback so often mentioned is a target from a community initiative, not a date.

Who publishes these texts is striking. Several of the pages that rank highly in a search for the reason promote a presale of another token in the same article. That is paid advertising in the form of a news report. Anyone buying off the back of it is following an advertisement, not an analysis.

How you recognize a solid report

Three questions are usually enough. Does the text name a source you can call up yourself, meaning a blockchain address, an official document or a statement from the project? Does it name a period in which this is supposed to have happened? And does the sender earn money from your buying? If one of those is missing, it is a supposition.

Meme coins and taxes: what applies in Germany

Crypto assets held privately are subject to the one-year holding period under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act. Anyone holding for longer and selling afterwards pays no tax on the gain. Anyone selling earlier pays tax on it at their personal rate as soon as all private disposal transactions of the year together reach the exemption limit of 1,000 euros.

With meme coins this quickly becomes practical, because many holders swap often. Every swap into another coin is a sale, and the period then starts from the beginning. And it is an exemption limit, not an allowance: with a gain below 1,000 euros everything stays tax-free, at 1,000 euros the full amount is taxable.

Correction (30 September 2026): An earlier version said the entire gain only becomes taxable once it exceeds 1,000 euros. Under section 23(3) sentence 5 of the German Income Tax Act, total gains from private disposals remain tax-free only if they amount to less than 1,000 euros in the calendar year; from 1,000 euros the entire gain is taxable.

Buying PEPE: what you check before getting in

Three checks are worth making before you follow a weekly move. First, the provider: platforms serving customers in Germany have needed authorization as a crypto asset service provider under the EU regulation MiCA since the transition period ended at the close of 2025. Second, the size of the position: with a coin that swings between $0.0000038 and $0.00000431 in a single day, it is the position size that decides how well you sleep, not the forecast. Third, custody: anyone intending to hold for longer needs a wallet whose seed phrase they control themselves.

Which exchanges combine low fees with EU authorization is set out in our overview of the best crypto exchanges. Whether PEPE can be traded there is something you check before signing up.

PEPE price: which levels count now

On the upside, the daily high of $0.00000431 is the next hurdle. On the downside, the daily low at $0.0000038 serves as a first marker. The detailed assessment with the chart is set out in our piece on whether PEPE is a good buy, and the running market data can be found in our charts section.

Our assessment: a week with a 15 percent gain is no trend reversal in a meme coin, it is the normal case in a friendly market phase. As long as no documented trigger turns up, PEPE remains a bet on attention. Anyone getting in should decide beforehand at which price they will secure gains or cap losses.

PEPE: what you should remember from this week

1. The move is documented, its reason is not. 15.4 percent in seven days is there in the price data. The explanations in circulation come mostly from advertising copy.
2. Check the source before you buy. Without a traceable address, without a period and with a sender who earns money from your purchase, it is not a news report.
3. Document every swap. Swapping into another coin is also a sale and restarts the holding period. A crypto tax tool records that automatically.

(As of September 20, 2026, 12:45 p.m. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)