In a dramatic turn of events in the volatile meme coin market, a cryptocurrency whale made headlines with rapid trading moves involving $TRUMP and $PEPE, as reported by Lookonchain on May 11, 2025. According to their analysis, the whale initiated a long position on $TRUMP at approximately 10:00 AM UTC, only to face a sharp price drop within an hour, leading to a partial liquidation of their position by 11:00 AM UTC. The price of $TRUMP plummeted by nearly 12% during this window, from $0.045 to $0.039, based on real-time data tracked on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. This forced the whale to close the position at a loss. Undeterred, the whale quickly pivoted to $PEPE, opening a 10x leveraged long position at around 11:30 AM UTC when $PEPE was trading at $0.0000082. Within a few hours, by 1:30 PM UTC, $PEPE surged to $0.0000091, yielding the whale an unrealized profit of $81,000. This series of trades highlights the high-risk, high-reward nature of meme coin trading and the rapid sentiment shifts in these markets. On-chain data from platforms tracking whale activity shows a significant spike in trading volume for both tokens during these hours, with $TRUMP recording over $3.2 million in transactions and $PEPE seeing $5.8 million in volume between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM UTC. These moves have sparked discussions among traders about the potential influence of whale activity on smaller market cap tokens and the cascading effects on retail investors.

From a trading perspective, this whale’s actions offer critical insights into meme coin volatility and cross-token strategies. The sharp drop in $TRUMP, which saw over 15,000 transactions during the liquidation window at 11:00 AM UTC, suggests a potential bearish sentiment or orchestrated sell-off, as noted in community discussions following Lookonchain’s report. Meanwhile, the whale’s pivot to $PEPE with a high-leverage position indicates a calculated bet on a short-term rebound or pump in another meme token. By 1:30 PM UTC, $PEPE’s price increase aligned with a 20% rise in buy orders on major trading pairs like PEPE/USDT and PEPE/ETH on exchanges such as Binance and OKX, reflecting growing bullish momentum. For traders, this presents opportunities to monitor $PEPE for potential breakout patterns above $0.0000095, which could signal further upside. However, the high leverage used by the whale also underscores the risk of sudden reversals, especially in a market driven by hype and social media sentiment. Additionally, the whale’s activity may attract copycat traders, potentially inflating $PEPE’s volume further in the short term. Traders should also keep an eye on $TRUMP for signs of recovery, as on-chain metrics show accumulation by smaller wallets at the $0.038 level as of 2:00 PM UTC, hinting at potential bargain hunting.

Technically, let’s dive into key indicators and volume data for both tokens during this period. For $TRUMP, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) dropped to an oversold level of 28 at 11:00 AM UTC during the price crash, based on 1-hour chart data from TradingView. This was accompanied by a spike in sell volume to 1.8 million units within that hour. By 2:00 PM UTC, the RSI had recovered slightly to 35, suggesting a possible stabilization, though the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remained bearish with a negative crossover. On the other hand, $PEPE displayed a bullish divergence on the 1-hour chart by 1:30 PM UTC, with RSI climbing to 62 and buy volume reaching 2.5 million units between 11:30 AM and 1:30 PM UTC. The price also broke above the 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.0000088, reinforcing the short-term bullish outlook. Market correlation data shows that $PEPE’s price movement had a moderate positive correlation of 0.6 with $DOGE, another leading meme coin, during this timeframe, indicating broader sector momentum. For $TRUMP, there was a negative correlation of -0.4 with major crypto assets like $BTC, which remained relatively stable at $60,500 as of 2:00 PM UTC. These correlations suggest that meme coin trading is often detached from broader market trends, driven instead by community hype and whale maneuvers. The whale’s $81,000 unrealized profit on $PEPE also highlights how leveraged positions can amplify gains in volatile markets, though traders must remain cautious of liquidation risks if sentiment shifts.

While this event is specific to crypto markets, it’s worth noting the indirect influence of broader financial market sentiment on meme coins. Stock market indices like the S&P 500 showed mild volatility on May 11, 2025, with a 0.3% dip by 1:00 PM UTC, which may contribute to risk-off behavior in speculative assets like meme coins. However, no direct correlation data ties this specific whale activity to stock movements. Institutional interest in crypto remains a factor, as increased flows into crypto-related ETFs like the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw a $12 million inflow on the same day, per publicly available data. This suggests that while meme coins operate in a niche, high-risk segment, broader institutional money flows into crypto could indirectly stabilize sentiment for major tokens, potentially benefiting smaller assets like $PEPE through spillover effects. Traders should monitor these cross-market dynamics for long-term positioning while focusing on short-term technical setups in meme coins.