Pepe price has declined by 55% since the start of the year as its gains from last year's bull market continue to unwind.

However, BlackRock’s ETH buying spree and Ethereum’s outperformance against Bitcoin suggest that the market could be entering a bullish period.

If that happens, then Pepe could post substantial gains in the months ahead.

The majority of cryptocurrency traders are familiar with Pepe. It’s the most popular meme coin to launch this cycle and it’s also one of the largest with a market cap of over $6 billion.

Its price has decreased by 55% since the start of the year as it continues to unwind the gains that it posted during last year’s bull market.

However, new liquidity that enters the meme coin market may favor Pepe over Dogecoin due to its novelty and freshness.

This comes as traders are always looking out for the ‘next best thing’ in periods of market weakness.

The fact that major cryptocurrency is down 32% since December while meme coins have suffered double-digit losses over the past six months is a clear indication that traders are in a bearish mood.

But while pepe price has suffered steeper losses than ETH, the Ethereum price chart shows that the smart contract coin could be preparing for a strong move to the upside.

According to Arkham Intelligence, BlackRock has been buying Ethereum every day for over two weeks now through its spot Ethereum ETF.

The asset manager has reportedly accumulated $570 million worth of ETH during this buying spree.

This action from the institutional giant is a strong indication that the market could be entering into a bullish period which would benefit the pepe price.

If anything, the meme coin is likely to post even steeper gains than Ethereum due to its higher volatility.

The cryptocurrency exchange behemoth has been buying ETH nearly every day since mid-August, with its latest purchase on August 28.

This consistent buying activity has piqued the interest of the crypto community, especially as BlackRock’s involvement in the crypto space remains relatively new.

Earlier this year, the asset manager filed for an ETF to trade Bitcoin futures in the U.S., sparking hope among Bitcoin bulls for the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF.

However, it seems that institutional interest in direct exposure to Ethereum is already a reality.

Its actions could also help to bolster the price of other Ethereum-based tokens such as pepe.

According to Benzinga, the top trader is expecting it to flip DOGE and reach a $70 billion market cap.

To put that into perspective, a 13.3x increase from current levels.

At that market cap, PAPE would be trading at $0.000165319.

This comes as the trader noted that the coin has been in a “long consolidation.”

At the moment, Dogecoin is trading at a market cap of $28 billion.

This would make pepe the largest meme coin by far if it were to hit the forecasted price tag.