My trading skills are just like my dating skills – in my mind, I know I’m very good at it but neither do I make consistent profits nor do I get dates. – A professional trader
Let’s face it. Trading is hard. And we don’t mean to say that trading is hard because of the time it takes to master it, but because it is hard to be consistently profitable from it. But, let’s also admit it… it kinda looks cool.
You see all these influencers and Big Gs on Instagram and TikTok posting pictures of their trading screens open on their laptops and showing how they’re actually winning it; and you think to yourself, “Hey if that guy can do it so can I”. Well, there’s nothing stopping you from learning it.
There are a plethora of resources available that teach trading very well. Some of these gurus almost give you a guarantee that the moment you buy their course, you’ll become a trading ninja.
But you see, that’s where the problem comes in. It’s this plethora of resources that often mix up the good sources of actually learning trading and seeking alpha with almost-redundant and pointless sources which offer no value. The noise gets mixed with the alpha as self-proclaimed financial gurus on TikTok dish out trading advice and then traders try to act smart and add in their own biases, thoughts, and “feelings” about which direction the candle moves in… and oh boy.
The truth is… trading is a skill that is hard to master. It eludes the smartest and the brightest minds on earth because of the surrounding complexity. It is a game of skill, talent, practice, probability, and a lot more. It is at times ambiguous and at times straightforward.
Add to that the countless times traders often fall into the trap of random reinforcement, which in a nutshell means that they misattribute an outcome to their skill (or the lack of it). Not a wise thing to do for something that requires a lot of precision.
So, trading is complex. It requires precision. It requires instinct. It requires practice. And it requires patience to get to the other side. But, it is enthralling, isn’t it? The infinite wait to see whether you’re profitable is often exciting. And when you do make profits, you get this adrenaline rush of having conquered the world. The thrill of making more money from your existing money is exciting and almost irreplaceable. But then the question arises…
If you still want to trade and make money, still want to experience the adrenaline rush of conquering the world, still want to sip Sex on the Beach with trading screens open and you looking sexy af, what must you do?
Fret not, anon. We have the answer.
Enter Pepe’s Game
It’s a game. It’s a trade. It’s a rocket. It’s a… Pepe?
Pepe’s Game gives you the same enrapturing experience of trading, without all the boring technical complexities. It makes your trading experience a lot more fun, engaging, and most importantly, profitable. Now, you do not need to worry about learning options for the sake of experiencing the raving thrill of how the charts and contracts work. With Pepe’s Game, you experience the same adrenaline rush of making it big. But with much bigger returns, and often in just one single trade. You win big when the price moves in your direction, and lose if it doesn’t. The only catch is that the direction in which the odds move is decided by Pepe.
Hi, I’m Pepe
The game is simple. You bet on which direction the price of an asset moves in. If the outcome of the game is in your favour, you win. If not, you lose.
Just like every crypto market, Pepe works 24/7 to give you an incredible experience. The platform charges a 10% commission for the spin, which is a negligible amount compared to what you could potentially win from playing the game. Let’s understand how the game works in a lot more detail.
How Pepe’s Game Works
You can start playing Pepe’s Game by depositing USDC in values of $5, $10, or $20 on the trade that you want to place. Click on “SPIN” to start the game.
The game features three spinners.
- The asset: it can be BTC or ETH
- The direction: it determines the direction of your position (higher or lower)
- Duration: it ranges from 15s to 60s
Once you click the “SPIN” button, the spinners generate a random combination of the asset, the direction, and the time duration. The random combination of these parameters thus generated is your entry point. If the price closes higher relative to where you opened the position (given you landed on “Higher”), then you win. However, if the price closes lower relative to where you opened the position (given you landed on “Higher” this time too), then you lose. This applies to both cases when the price goes higher to your entry or if it goes lower. The total winnings that are paid out are 172% of the total bet amount.
Thus, if you bet $20, then your payout is $34.40. Note that this is inclusive of fees as well as the bet size and winnings.
In the event of a loss, there is of course no payout.
The winnings are paid out by the game’s liquidity pool which is an in-game reserve. For every trade that you place, it takes the opposite side of that trade. It pays out 100% of the winnings and receives 100% of the losses.
The game takes a 10% fee in its own reserve token ($PEG) on each spin. A major portion of these fees i.e., 60% goes towards accumulating $PLS tokens. The remaining 40% is distributed to $PEG stakers and lockers.
The $PEG token
At the heart of the protocol lies the $PEG token, which is the governance token of the protocol. Holders who stake their $PEG tokens are also entitled to benefits including income from $bPLS bribes, the ability to vote on governance proposals, and revenue sharing from Pepe Nation.
From the 10% fees that are collected by the protocol, about 60% are used to accumulate $PLS tokens. They are then locked for the maximum duration for $bPLS. One of the main benefits that users get by holding $bPLS is to gain governance power over the Arbitrum ecosystem including protocols like Dopex, Radiant, GMX, Sperax, and Jones. This means that users get access to a token that appreciates in value with respect to the governance of the protocols in the underlying Arbitrum ecosystem. Once PlutusDAO’s vote-locked $PLS becomes available, Pepe protocol will max-lock these tokens for more yield.
Users can also stake their $PEG to get $sPEG. In return, they receive 10% of all the protocol’s fee earnings. This fee is distributed in proportion to the number of shares that a user has in the staking pool. Users can also lock their $PEG tokens for 6 months and get $IPEG in return; this entitles them to receive 30% of all platform fee earnings, which again are distributed in $USDC in weekly epochs proportional to their share of the pool.
In addition to this, $PEG holders also have a say on governance over the entire Pepe Protocol and help effect the changes that are implemented to it.
There is a supply of 20M $PEG tokens with an initial price set at $0.50. The distribution of tokenomics has been kept in a way that about 20% is up for public sale and only 3.5% for private sale. The rest of the distribution is as follows.
Pepe Nation
Pepe Nation is the overarching brand for the entire suite of products that are created by the team. All these products are powered by the $PEG token and all of them will be created to benefit DeFi investors. Some of these applications will include vaults, insurance protocols, alternative games, and more.
Private and Public sale of $PEG
The protocol recently concluded a private sale for their $PEG tokens where about 700K $PEG tokens were available to be bought. This was 3.5% of the total $PEG supply, and it was priced at $0.30 per token. Out of this, $4000 worth of allocation was offered to Ambassadors, and $2000 worth of allocation was offered to Pepe List Holders.
These tokens are vested for 3 months, and during this time they are already earning staking rewards. All the funds generated from the private sale are going to be used for:
- setting up legal infrastructure,
- audits, setting up liquidity pool,
- cover for operational expenses,
- back-paying the team for their work, and
- OTC deal with PlutusDAO
Public sale
They recently opened their public round which has 20% of the overall $PEG supply that can be bought i.e., 4M tokens. There is an interesting twist to this round as users need to go through 10 different levels to unlock $PEG tokens that are differently valued. To unlock these tokens at varying levels, users need to collaborate with each other and raise funds by combining $USDC and/or $PLS with others.
Every level has 100K $PEG tokens available for $PLS holders and 300K $PEG tokens available for $USDC holders. This is weighted 25% $PLS and 75% $USDC. If the USDC side gets heavily weighted then the cost of $PEG for $PLS holders goes down while that for $USDC holders goes up. The starting level has an entry requirement of $200K, and all the $PEG tokens at this level are valued at $0.50.
However, there is a hard cap of $3.8M in contributions.
Airdrop
Post the public round, the protocol also plans to do an airdrop to the top 100 contributors – who have qualified for all the levels in the public round. They also have a dynamic leaderboard, where you can consistently check your position. If you are a part of the Top 100 Contributors, you are eligible to get 0.75% airdrop distributed equally (from $1200 to $2100).
The second airdrop is for those who lock their $PEG for 6 months. This airdrop is also 0.75% and the amount you get out of this is proportional to the amount of $PEG you have staked with respect to the total amount of $PEG in the pool. This airdrop is vested over 12 months.
Pepe’s Team
They have a capable team of marketers, Business Development Managers, smart contract developers and a highly experienced team of Advisors as well. Their Chief Business Developer and Marketing has already developed several web3 projects in the space and is also the founder of an end-to-end Web3 agency. He is also an Imperial College London alum.
Pepe’s Community
Pepe’s Community has been doing some really cool shit. Even though they are still just conducting their public rounds, the community is alive with conversations and speculation on what potential features the protocol will have – and they don’t even have the testnet yet!
Yep, they’re all coming for this.
They have a strong standing community of over 6.3K+ members across all their socials. And from the look of it, there seem to be serial web3 degens in the chat as most people are asking the most pertinent questions around the application, the public round, and more!
Concluding Thoughts
We love the idea behind Pepe’s Game and how it brings to life the boring and highly technical aspects of trading and makes it much more fun. The project has been making some good progress over the past few months. I have been following the project and its lead for quite some time and admire their overall approach. In the world of trading which is usually full of technical complexities, Pepe’s Game is a breath of fresh air. It manages to capture the psychology behind trading while also giving people a sense of adrenaline rush.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for the project in the coming weeks/months!
