PEPE and BONK Price Pump Explained! Meme Coins Just Ignored the FUD and Exploded Into the New Year

Meme coins have kicked off the new year with a sharp reversal, and PEPE and BONK are leading the move. Based on the data shared by Santiment, the meme coin market pumped strongly just days after retail fear peaked following the holidays. That post is now roughly 24 hours old, and price action since then has only reinforced the trend.

Since Santiment published its breakdown, there’s fresher data on how much PEPE and BONK pumped last week; the PEPE price has climbed around 67%, while the BONK price is up roughly 47%. Other meme coins mentioned in the report, including FLOKI, DOGE, MOG, and USELESS, have continued to move broadly in line with the initial data. The follow-through shows this was not a short-lived bounce, but a coordinated rotation back into high-beta assets.

What Santiment’s data is showing

Santiment’s chart shows a clear change in both price and attention. The total meme coin market cap has pushed above $45.3 billion, up more than 20% in just one week. Trading volume across meme coins surged even faster, rising by more than 260% over the same period. That kind of expansion usually signals renewed risk appetite rather than isolated speculation.

Source: X/@santimentfeed

The bar chart shows PEPE and USELESS leading with gains above 50% at the time of the post, followed by BONK, FLOKI, DOGE, and MOG. Importantly, the treemap view shows that these gains were not limited to small-cap tokens. Larger meme coins like DOGE and SHIB also saw rising social activity, even if price gains were more moderate.

Santiment noted that the rebound began shortly after fear and uncertainty peaked among retail traders. This timing matters. Meme coins often perform best when sentiment flips from extreme pessimism to renewed interest, especially when liquidity returns after a quiet period.

Read also: Best Altcoins to Watch Right Now: PEPE, ETH, and More

Why PEPE and BONK accelerated further

Since the Santiment update, PEPE and BONK have clearly pulled ahead. That indicates capital is concentrating rather than spreading evenly across the meme sector. PEPE continues to benefit from strong social momentum and high trading volume, while BONK is seeing renewed attention after holding key support levels and attracting fresh demand.

The broader context also matters. With Bitcoin stabilizing and altcoin interest slowly returning, traders appear more willing to take risk. Meme coins, by nature, tend to amplify those shifts. Once momentum starts, price moves can extend quickly as sidelined capital rushes back in.

For now, the move lines up closely with what Santiment outlined. Meme coins were written off after the holidays, sentiment reached extreme negativity, and price reversed sharply. The fact that PEPE and BONK have extended gains well beyond the initial snapshot strengthens the case that this is a broader meme coin rotation, not just a one-day spike.

Will the rally continue? Well, this will depend on how long attention and volume stay elevated. But as it stands, meme coins have clearly ignored the FUD and stole the shows to start the year.