How a Small $3K Investment in Pepe Netted Crypto Trader $73M: Data

A savvy crypto investor has reportedly turned a modest $3,000 investment in the popular frog-themed Pepe (PEPE) meme coin into a $73 million profit.

According to Lookonchain, who first revealed the feat in a December 10 post on X, the unidentified trader first bought 4.1 trillion Pepe tokens on April 15, 2023.

Strategic Sales Amid Market Highs

Per on-chain data, the investor sold off just over 3 trillion Pepe, pocketing about $27.5 million in the process. However, with 1.88 trillion tokens still held in their wallet, boasting a market value of $45.66 million, their total profit now stands at an eye-popping $73 million.

An analysis of the trader’s activities shows that they timed their sales during market peaks, especially when Pepe skyrocketed to an all-time high (ATH) of $0.000028 on December 9, 2024.

The sharp price rally allowed the investor to maximize profits before the meme coin’s value dropped, demonstrating a keen understanding of market cycles. At that time, their largest single transaction involved the sale of 100 billion Pepe tokens for $2.8 million.

Pepe’s volatile nature has made it a favorite among speculative traders, especially considering that its price has registered extreme swings since its launch in early 2023, with gains of more than 1,487% in the last 12 months alone.

At the time of writing, the meme coin, #23 on the list of highest-capped cryptocurrencies, was trading at $0.00002436, a 4.2% drop from 24 hours ago. However, it is still up 20.7% across seven days and 103.3% over a month.

While Pepe is currently trading at 12.9% lower than its ATH, it is still more than 44,000% higher than its lowest-ever recorded price, attained on April 18, 2023, only days after the mysterious trader bought his stash.

The coin has outperformed the broader crypto market, which is down 1.70%, as well as similar meme tokens, which are generally up 12.70% per data from CoinGecko.

Crypto Success Stories

Stories of dramatic profits aren’t new to crypto. Recently, a viral squirrel incident led to the creation of a meme coin dubbed Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT). One investor took advantage of its booming popularity to turn $450,000 of Solana (SOL) into nearly $8 million in profits.

According to Lookonchain, the trader bought 16 million PNUT tokens at $0.045 and sold them for $1.34 a piece days later, marking a 1,772% return on their investment.

Earlier in the year, another investor reportedly made more than $46 million from trading Pepe. Starting in April 2023, the trader bought 4,9 trillion tokens when the meme coin barely registered on people’s radars. However, as its price catapulted, the investor sold portions of their holdings, making about $7.4 million in profits.

Still, they had more than 3.5 trillion Pepe coins, valued at over $39 million, transforming their bet into a $46 million windfall.