A cartoon frog that spread across internet forums now trades as a cryptocurrency, and you can buy it in the same app many people use for stocks. Buying takes about a minute, while knowing what you hold takes longer: a token with no defined use, a supply in the trillions, and a cost that depends on how your order is routed.
Robinhood Crypto added Pepe (PEPE) for United States customers on November 13, 2024, together with Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and XRP, which brought the number of cryptocurrencies you could trade there to 19 (source: Robinhood, Pepe listing). PEPE trades in the Robinhood app, on the classic website and on Robinhood's desktop trading product (source: Robinhood, Crypto availability). For the other meme coins on the platform, read Robinhood memecoins.
What is Pepe (PEPE)?
Pepe (PEPE) is a meme token inspired by the cartoon character Pepe the Frog. It launched in April 2023 on the Ethereum blockchain, has a supply of 420.69 trillion tokens, and has no defined use beyond meme coin trading. Its value rests largely on community interest and online culture (source: CoinGecko, Pepe).
The frog came long before the coin: Pepe the Frog is a comic character created by cartoonist Matt Furie for his 2005 webcomic Boy's Club, drawn as a green frog with a humanlike body. He grew into an internet meme on Myspace, Gaia Online and 4chan from 2008 onward (source: Wikipedia, Pepe the Frog). The token borrows only the image, since it is unconnected to Furie or to his character. The coin presents itself as a tribute to a meme its holders already know (source: Pepe, Official site).
That places PEPE in the meme coin category, which covers cryptocurrencies that grew out of an internet meme or carry some other humorous trait, and Dogecoin was one of the first coins in it. Prices in this group move mostly on social media attention. They can climb quickly while new buyers pour in, then drop sharply once interest fades, because little underlying value supports the market capitalization (source: Wikipedia, Meme coin).
On the technical side, PEPE is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum (source: Etherscan, Pepe token). ERC-20 is the Ethereum standard for fungible tokens, so every PEPE is identical in type and value to every other PEPE, the way one dollar bill swaps for another (source: Ethereum, ERC-20 Token Standard). The token launched quietly, with no presale and zero tax on buys or sells. Its liquidity pool tokens were burned and ownership of the contract was renounced, which leaves nobody holding an owner role over the code (source: Pepe, Official site). In practice the trading liquidity is permanently locked and the contract stays as it was first deployed (source: CoinGecko, Pepe).
The token is the whole project, and PEPE has no formal team or roadmap. By the project's own account, it carries no intrinsic value and no expectation of financial return (source: Pepe, Official site). Demand is the only thing that sets its price, so size any PEPE position as money you could see fall sharply without needing it back.
Robinhood added PEPE after customers asked for access to more digital assets. Its listing committee reviews each cryptocurrency against internal policies, both before a coin is listed and afterward for continued support (source: Robinhood, Pepe listing). A coin you can trade today can therefore be reviewed again later.
How to buy Pepe on Robinhood step by step
To buy PEPE in the Robinhood app, open Crypto, search for Pepe, tap Buy, enter an amount, confirm the order type in the Actions menu, tap Review and swipe up to submit. On the classic website the last two steps are Review order and Submit buy (source: Robinhood, Buy or sell crypto).
- Open the Robinhood app and tap Crypto.
- Search for Pepe and open the PEPE detail screen.
- Tap Buy to see the estimated buy price.
- Enter the amount in dollars, or tap Amount in USD to switch to a PEPE quantity.
- Open the Actions menu (the down arrow) and confirm the order type, for example Market order or Recurring investment.
- In the same menu, choose market maker routing or exchange routing.
- Tap Review and check the current bid and ask on the review screen.
- Swipe up to submit the order.
Say you buy $100 of PEPE with a market order on market maker routing, the default setting in the app. Your order fills at the ask, which usually sits above the mid price shown on the chart, and the gap between the two is the buy spread. If the review screen shows a buy spread of 0.96%, about $0.96 of your $100 goes to the spread. As of June 15, 2026, Robinhood receives $0.95 from its market makers for every $100 of crypto they fill (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). That means nearly all of the 0.96% you pay in this example reaches Robinhood as revenue from the market maker.
A market buy carries a guard, because Robinhood turns it into a limit order buffered up to 1% above the price when you placed it, so a sudden jump in PEPE can leave the order unfilled. A market order that has not executed after 2 minutes may be canceled. You can buy a fraction of a coin, down to a smallest order of $0.01 on market maker routing or $0.03 on exchange routing (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). For the full set of order screens, read how to buy crypto on Robinhood.
Robinhood PEPE fees: spread vs fee tiers
A PEPE order on Robinhood costs a spread or a fee, depending on the route. Market maker routing builds its whole cost into the spread. Exchange routing charges a fee from 0.00% to 0.95%, with the rate falling as your 30-day exchange-routed volume rises (source: Robinhood, Crypto fee tiers).
On exchange routing, the order type you choose decides which of two fees you pay. A market or stop order is sent to whichever partner exchange offers the best available price and pays the taker fee. A limit or stop limit order generally rests on the order book of Bitstamp, a partner exchange affiliated with Robinhood Crypto, and pays the lower maker fee if it is matched there later. Robinhood sizes a limit order at the taker rate and credits the difference back to your buying power when it fills at the maker rate. A buy's total cost is the dollar value of the coins plus the fee, so $100 of PEPE at the top 0.95% rate costs $100.95 (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing).
Neither route is guaranteed to be cheaper, because your all-in cost on exchange routing can come out higher or lower than on market maker routing depending partly on how much you trade (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). Spreads also differ by coin, since a coin that more people trade tends to show a narrower spread, which is why Bitcoin usually costs less to cross than smaller names (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). Read the PEPE spread on every order, because it can change from one trade to the next.
Where you trade also limits the choice: the app lets you pick either route for PEPE, while the classic website sends every order through market makers. Robinhood's desktop trading product uses fee tiers for all crypto orders (source: Robinhood, Crypto availability). For the rate at each volume level, read Robinhood crypto fees explained, and for the two costs side by side, read Robinhood crypto spread versus exchange fees.
PEPE position limits on Robinhood
Robinhood caps your PEPE at a cost basis, the total you paid, of $50,000,000. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and XRP share that limit, and every other coin stops at $20,000,000. A price rise can lift your PEPE's market value above the limit without breaching it (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling).
The limit counts what you paid, so the screen value can mislead you. Say you spent $2,000,000 on PEPE and the price later tripled. The holding is now worth $6,000,000, yet it uses only $2,000,000 of the limit, and you could still add up to $48,000,000 of new purchases. Check your cost basis before a large buy, because the number on the screen is the market value.
Robinhood calculates cost basis first in, first out (FIFO), which means a sale removes your earliest purchases first (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). With a meme coin that swings hard, FIFO decides which buy price a partial sale is matched against, and that sets the gain or loss you report. Keep your own record of each purchase so the figures on your tax forms make sense to you. For the forms Robinhood issues, read Robinhood crypto tax reporting.
Coins you move into Robinhood from another wallet arrive with no purchase record attached. Robinhood then estimates gains and losses on them using a cost basis of $0 and treats the arrival date as the date you acquired them (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). If you bought PEPE elsewhere before sending it in, that $0 basis makes the whole sale price look like profit. Keep the original purchase records from the other platform, so you can report the real figure when you sell.
How do you trade Pepe on BloFin?
If you want another way to trade PEPE, with the order book and a posted fee beside the price, BloFin offers PEPE/USDT Spot and the PEPEUSDT Perpetual. Spot is the token itself, while the perpetual is a margined contract with no expiry that tracks PEPE's price.
On the spot market you see the order book, with bids from buyers on one side and asks from sellers on the other. A market buy fills against the best ask and pays the taker commission. A limit order rests on the book at your price and pays the maker commission if it fills. The gap between the best bid and the best ask is the spread, the same idea as the Robinhood buy spread, shown here as live orders. For the basics, read what is BloFin spot trading.
The perpetual uses margin, so a modest deposit controls a larger position. Holders pay or receive a funding rate, a periodic payment between long and short positions that keeps the contract close to the spot price. If PEPE moves far enough against a margined position to reach its liquidation price, the position is closed, while a spot holding stays in your account whatever the price does.
Costs show up differently on each platform, because on Robinhood's market maker route the cost sits inside the spread, while a BloFin order shows the bid, the ask and the maker or taker rate before you send it. Compare the two on the same dollar amount: the Robinhood spread or fee on one side, the BloFin spread plus commission on the other.
Maker and taker rates for both markets are listed on the BloFin fee schedule.
PEPE/USDT Spot vs the PEPEUSDT Perpetual
Choose PEPE/USDT Spot when you want to own the token and hold it with no liquidation price. Choose the PEPEUSDT Perpetual when you want price exposure, long or short, sized with margin, and you accept that a sharp move against you can close the position. Either market needs a funded BloFin account before your first order.
A spot buy is the closest match to a Robinhood purchase, and it still deserves a plan before you open the order form. Decide how much of your account you could hold through a steep drop, since meme coins can lose a large share of their value once attention moves on. Pick the price you will pay, using a limit order if you want to cap it. Then set two exit levels: a stop loss below your entry where you sell if the trade goes wrong, and a take-profit level above it where you sell into a gain.
A perpetual position needs more planning: work out the size from how far PEPE could move against you, then read the estimated liquidation price on the order form before you confirm, and keep that price well beyond your stop loss. Watch the funding rate as well, because holding through a funding time means paying or receiving it.
On either market, check the bid, the ask and the fee rate on the order you are about to send. In a fast market the gap between bid and ask can widen, which raises the cost of a market order, and a limit order caps your price at the risk of not filling.
Looking to trade PEPE on BloFin? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and navigate to the PEPE/USDT Spot trading page or the PEPEUSDT Perpetual page.
Frequently asked questions
Can you buy Pepe on Robinhood in New York?
New York residents can buy and sell PEPE on Robinhood. A few coins on the platform are closed to New York accounts, and PEPE carries no such restriction, so a New York customer gets the same order screens as a customer in any other state. In the app you can choose market maker routing or fee tiers for PEPE, while the classic website uses market makers only (source: Robinhood, Crypto availability).
Is PEPE on Robinhood FDIC insured?
Crypto held through Robinhood Crypto carries no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance and no SIPC protection. Robinhood Crypto belongs to neither the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) nor the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). It does hold a license for virtual currency business from the New York State Department of Financial Services (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). That license is permission to operate, which is a separate matter from insuring your balance if the firm fails.
Who created the Pepe coin?
No named person or company stands behind the PEPE token, which launched quietly with no presale, has no formal team or roadmap, and has had its contract ownership renounced. Matt Furie, the cartoonist who drew Pepe the Frog, has no link to the coin, which uses his character as a tribute to the meme (source: Pepe, Official site). Anyone who buys PEPE relies on market demand alone.
Can North Carolina residents use exchange routing for PEPE?
Exchange routing is unavailable to North Carolina residents for now. A PEPE order from a North Carolina account goes through market makers, so its cost sits in the spread alone. That spread is the whole cost of the trade (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). Compare the two prices Robinhood quotes for a buy and a sale before you confirm, especially on a large order.
Can you trade PEPE on Robinhood on weekends?
PEPE trades on Robinhood around the clock, seven days a week, apart from scheduled maintenance windows. Proceeds from a Saturday sale are ready at once for buying more crypto, stocks or options. Moving that cash to your bank takes longer, because the standard Automated Clearing House (ACH) settlement period of up to 5 business days applies (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). Because meme coins can move sharply at any hour, a resting limit order protects you better than a weekday check-in.
Can you place a limit order on PEPE at Robinhood?
Robinhood accepts limit orders on crypto, including PEPE, and a limit buy names the most you will pay. It executes only once the ask reaches or drops below that price, so it may never fill (source: Robinhood, Crypto buying and selling). When you choose exchange routing, the order usually waits on Bitstamp's order book, and a later match there earns the maker rate (source: Robinhood, Crypto order routing). That rate is usually below the taker rate a market order pays.
Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. Updated October 2026. Primary sources: Robinhood's November 13, 2024 listing announcement, Robinhood's crypto support articles, CoinGecko, Wikipedia, Etherscan, and the Pepe project site. All facts independently verified against cited documentation current as of October 2026.
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Crypto assets are highly speculative and can lose value. Do your own research and consult a qualified professional for advice on your situation.