Fans of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, are driving it higher to mark an auspicious day, even while other cryptocurrencies continue to struggle. The #DogeDay hashtag has been trending on Twitter on April 20, or 4/20, which has propelled Dogecoin’s value.
In the past 24 hours, the Shiba Inu-themed satirical token surged some 17%, according to data from CoinGecko.com as of 11 a.m. in Hong Kong, while Bitcoin and Ethereum extend losses. The market leader, Bitcoin, tumbled 3.4% to about $54,287 for a fifth straight session of declines, and the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, fell 5.1% to $2,097 on Tuesday.
“There’s a tribe of investors, many of them Millennials, who see it as a cause, a movement,” said Antoni Trenchev, the co-founder of crypto-lending firm Nexo, according to Bloomberg. “Dogecoin is symptomatic of the zeitgeist happening before our very eyes.”
This latest volatility has dented the overall market capitalization of cryptocurrency and fuels talk about a bubble in crypto assets. Nevertheless, the record $2 trillion thresholds surpassed a fortnight ago is still intact. Crypto’s champions are part of a rebellious trend, including the WallStreetBets (a famous Reddit forum), retail traders, that’s challenging investment norms.
As the crypto industry matures this year, the likes of Bitcoin and Ether are still up about 90% and 180%, respectively. According to a report by Bloomberg, “Institutional investors such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon have stepped into the sector, and the Nasdaq listing of Coinbase Global Inc. last week has lifted crypto’s profile in mainstream markets.”
“Bitcoin is trying to stabilize following the weekend plunge to bear-market territory,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “Institutional demand might find this massive sell-off as a buying opportunity. Bitcoin could continue to stabilize here, with a new trading range forming between $52,000 and $62,000 for the next few weeks.”
Some cryptocurrency investors offered words of caution while fans of Dogecoin keep making waves.
“It really must be an alt-coin season,” said Justin Chuh, senior trader at regulated digital asset investment manager Wave Financial. He expects most retail investors are best off buying and holding a portfolio of just the top two cryptos, Bitcoin and Ether, and the internet pile-on in the asset class only “adds to the gut-wrenching volatility.”
