Ethereum Tokens PEPE and MOG Reach New Highs Following US Ether ETF Approvals

According to CoinDesk, two Ethereum ecosystem tokens, PEPE and MOG, have reached new highs following the approval of key ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings in the U.S. The tokens surged to record highs on Monday, with some traders considering them as beta bets. A beta bet is a strategy that involves gaining exposure to a main asset by investing in related networks or protocols. The frog-themed PEPE and cat-themed MOG tokens saw increases of 11% and 45% respectively in the past 24 hours. Trading volumes for PEPE across spot and futures exceeded $1.8 billion, a significant increase from the usual range of $400 million-$600 million. This surge coincided with a nearly 5% rise in ether over the same period, leading the advance among major tokens. Meanwhile, bitcoin shed 1% and the CoinDesk 20, an index of the biggest tokens excluding stablecoins, lost 0.3%. Futures data indicates a spike in open interest on PEPE and MOG-tracked instruments in the past 24 hours. PEPE's open interest rose to $720 million from last week’s $550 million, while MOG's figure increased to $8.3 million from $5 million. This rise in open interest is seen as a sign of new money entering the market, potentially indicating further price volatility. However, data from Coinalyze shows a long-to-short ratio for PEPE skewed in favor of bears at 54%, suggesting traders are betting against further price rises. Traders have been considering PEPE and MOG as a levered way to gain exposure to ether. The rally in these two tokens began when analysts increased the odds of ether ETFs being approved for trading in the U.S. PEPE even entered the 20 largest tokens by market capitalization, with a value of over $6 billion, earning some early investors millions of dollars on an initial purchase of just $460. Since 2023, meme tokens, typically seen as having no intrinsic value but with large followings, have risen in prominence as a beta bet on the ecosystem they are based on. Several Solana-based meme coin tokens surged from December to March as the network’s SOL tokens gained traction. In December, the Avalanche Foundation, a non-profit organization that maintains the Avalanche blockchain, announced it would invest in meme tokens built on the network, acknowledging the online culture and memetic value that such tokens can drive among investors.