Pepe PEPE/USD topped the meme coin charts on Monday, outperforming the smaller gains in Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Shiba Inu SHIB/USD.

What Happened: The frog-themed cryptocurrency rose over 4% in the last 24 hours, partially recovering from weekend losses. The coin’s trading volume also shot up by 37% to $650.96 million, making it the second-most traded meme coin on the day.

In comparison, DOGE and SHIB experienced smaller gains of 1.16% and 1.42%, respectively.

Meanwhile, PEPE's Open Interest, or the total money locked in its derivatives market, decreased by nearly 3% in the last 24 hours, as per Coinglass.

Why It Matters: When OI declines while the spot price rises, it might indicate that short sellers are covering their positions, which in turn pushes the price up. As money is flowing out of the market and the price increase is not driven by buying interest, traders usually view this scenario as a bearish sign.

It’s worth mentioning that OI reached its nearly two-month highs last week but has since decreased by over 25%.

Conversely, the percentage of traders placing long bets on the meme coin rose to 52% in the last 24 hours, suggesting that the rally might continue.

The latest rally also prompted diamond hands to add to their positions. According to IntoTheBlock, the balance held by long-term PEPE holders increased by 0.03% in the last 24 hours, highlighting their belief in the coin's potential for growth.

Price Action: At the time of writing, PEPE was trading at $0.000007374, up 4.45% over the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

However, year-to-date, the cryptocurrency has seen a decline of 63%.