PEPE fell 11% in a day. Shorts now pay longs on half of its $465 million in futures bets
The frog memecoin was the worst performer among the 50 biggest coins on CoinGecko. Its open futures bets equal about a quarter of its market value, and on the biggest market, Binance's, shorts now pay longs.
Key points
- PEPE traded at $0.00000445 at 6:49 a.m. ET on November 12, 2026, down 10.8% in 24 hours, the biggest drop in CoinGecko's top 50.
- At 7:00 a.m. ET, 80 PEPE perpetual futures on CoinGecko's list held $465.4 million of open bets, about 25% of PEPE's $1.87 billion market value, and traded $2.20 billion in a day.
- Funding was negative on 27 of the 80. Those 27, led by Binance's $94.9 million market, hold $232.2 million, or 50%, of all open PEPE bets.
What moved
PEPE, a memecoin built on Ethereum, traded at $0.00000445 at 6:49 a.m. ET on November 12, 2026, per CoinGecko. It was down 10.8% in 24 hours and 10.3% in seven days. No coin in CoinGecko's top 50 by market value fell more over the day. Bitcoin was down about 1.5% and ether about 1.8%.
The drop came in steps. CoinGecko's hourly prices show PEPE near $0.00000555 at 10 a.m. ET on November 10. It slid through Wednesday, from about $0.00000499 at 7 a.m. ET to $0.00000452 at 7 p.m. ET, and touched about $0.00000440 around 6 a.m. ET on Thursday. Spot trading in the 24 hours to 7:00 a.m. ET came to $481.3 million.
Where the bets sit
A perpetual future is a bet on a price that never expires. Open interest counts the dollars in bets nobody has closed yet. At 7:00 a.m. ET, CoinGecko's derivatives list showed 80 PEPE perpetuals (some count 1,000 PEPE as one unit) holding $465.4 million. They traded $2.20 billion in a day, about 4.6 times PEPE's spot volume.
Binance's 1000PEPEUSDT market was the biggest, with $94.9 million open and $442.4 million traded. MEXC followed with $70.2 million, then Gate with $43.1 million and OKX with $36.6 million. On Hyperliquid, an onchain futures exchange, the kPEPE market held $22.6 million and traded $46.5 million.
Open PEPE futures bets by venue, November 12, 2026
US$ million
Source: CoinGecko derivatives API, read November 12, 2026, 7:00 a.m. ET
Who pays whom
Funding is a small fee that passes between the two sides of a perpetual to keep its price near the coin's spot price. When it is negative, traders betting on a fall (shorts) pay traders betting on a rise (longs).
Funding was negative on 27 of 80 PEPE perpetuals, positive on 49 and zero on 4. The negative markets include the two largest: they hold $232.2 million, or 50% of all open PEPE bets. Binance stood at minus 0.0055% and MEXC at minus 0.0061%. Bybit, Bitget and Deepcoin stayed positive, and Hyperliquid's kPEPE rate was plus 0.00125% per hour.
The public data we read show the size of the bets and the fees, not who holds them or whether any were force-closed.
LC Insight analysis
This section is our reading of the facts above, not a statement of fact.
- We think the split matters more than the total: on Binance and MEXC, the two biggest PEPE markets, shorts are now paying, while smaller venues still have longs paying.
- Open bets near a quarter of PEPE's market value mean futures can push the price harder than spot buyers and sellers alone. That works in both directions.
- Negative funding costs shorts money every few hours. If the slide stalls, some may close, which means buying PEPE back.
What's next
- PEPE against Thursday's low near $0.00000440
- Binance 1000PEPEUSDT funding against minus 0.0055%
- Total PEPE open interest against $465.4 million
- Hyperliquid kPEPE open interest against $22.6 million
Disclaimer. This article is based on public information and the sources listed below as of the update time shown. It is for information only and is not investment, legal or tax advice. Figures may change as companies and authorities publish new data.
Sources
- CoinGecko API, derivatives markets, all PEPE-based perpetuals including 1000PEPE and kPEPE (read November 12, 2026, 7:00 a.m. ET)
- CoinGecko API, PEPE price, market value and 2-day hourly chart (read November 12, 2026, 6:49 a.m. ET)
- CoinGecko API, top coins by market value with 24-hour change (read November 12, 2026, 6:43 a.m. ET; rechecked 7:00 a.m. ET)
- CoinGecko, PEPE price page
