A crypto analyst has issued a projection for the meme coin market, arguing that PEPE will overtake Shiba Inu’s market capitalization. The forecast comes as the meme sector enters 2026 with renewed price action following a steep downturn during 2025.
The resurgence has fueled a meme coin rally lifting major assets. PEPE surged more than 60% over the past week while Shiba Inu lagged with only 22% gains during the same timeframe. This performance gap has prompted speculation about a potential market cap flip.
Analyst sets April 20 target for PEPE overtake
Pseudonymous crypto analyst Y00thereum highlighted PEPE’s standout performance and argued the token could flip SHIB by April 20 or earlier. The projection was accompanied by a screenshot comparing market capitalizations of both tokens.
The frog meme coin remains smaller than SHIB by market value despite recent explosive price performance. At the time of Y00thereum’s analysis, SHIB commanded a market cap of $5.32 billion while PEPE sat closer to $2.92 billion. The projection calculated that the coin would need to climb to around $0.00001266, an increase of roughly 1.8x, to match SHIB’s valuation.
Both tokens have pulled back from levels at the time of analysis. PEPE’s market cap stands at approximately $2.9 billion with a unit price of $0.0000069.
At these levels, PEPE must rally roughly 76.55% to close the gap. Y00thereum suggests this could occur on or before April 20, 2026.
Previous forecasts failed to materialize
This marks another prediction that PEPE could overtake SHIB in the meme coin sector. In 2024, BecauseBitcoin CEO Max Schwartzman predicted PEPE would flip SHIB during the 2024/2025 cycle. He argued both tokens would serve as alpha and beta assets of the season.
Pepetoshi Nakamoto warned Shiba Inu risked losing its second-place ranking. His data suggested the frog meme coin was only 69% away from achieving this milestone at that time. These forecasts have not materialized.
