Dogecoin is slowing down – at least for now – after a week of huge gains.
While other long-standing canine coins are down, there’s a new dog-themed token that’s picking up where DOGE left off, catapulting the charts this week.
The seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is now trading at $0.38 per coin, according to CoinGecko data. This represents a drop of 0.5% over 24 hours and a drop of 2.5% since last Wednesday.
Granted, this is a modest drop for a particularly volatile coin, but it’s also a drastic change from the last week of action.
Just over a week ago, Dogecoin hit a three-year high price of $0.43 and returned to the $0.40 mark on Tuesday amid another historic Bitcoin surge, but the Last week was quiet compared to what had been before.
Shiba Inu (SHIB), Bonk (BONK) and Dogwifhat (WIF) are also down on the day, with only BONK among those still in the green over the past seven days.
Floki (FLOKI), however, is getting back on its hind legs, up around 15% over the week following a Coinbase listing announcement Wednesday.
A new addition to the meme dog pack is making waves despite market declines. Just a Chill Guy (CHILLGUY), a Solana-based coin inspired by a viral TikTok depicting an anthropomorphic dog in casual attire, surged 400% in the past day, hitting $0.41 with market cap of $408 million. The token was launched this Monday.
Why is DOGE down?
Why has Dogecoin momentum slowed down since last week? DOGE and other meme coins are notoriously volatile, making a pullback after a rally a typical occurrence.
Dogecoin’s momentum is often driven by attention and hype. As the buzz around Donald Trump’s election victory and speculation about Elon Musk’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fades, the positive impact on its price may diminish.
However, Wintermute OTC trader Jake Ostrovskis suggests that what is happening to Dogecoin is not exclusive to the leading meme coin and that many altcoins are currently in the same boat.
“We are seeing relative weakness in the broader altcoin space,” he said. Decrypt. “Bitcoin’s outperformance takes liquidity away from alts,” he said. “These markets are also volatile by nature, so pullbacks are a normal part of trading.”
Meanwhile, BIT Mining Chief Economist Youwei Yang highlighted potential changes around Dogecoin mining, including “merged mining” with Litecoin (LTC), suggesting that miners could get rid of their assets while the price is high.
“LTC/DOGE mining is at a very lucrative level, two to three times more profitable than Bitcoin depending on the ASIC generation,” Yang said. “Miners are selling their historically and recently accumulated large amounts of DOGE to secure some profits.”
He recommended miners cash out while DOGE is rising: “We have learned from history and we are concerned that this level of profit will not last,” Yang said. Decrypt. “Sell some of it to make a profit, or at least pay the electricity bill.”
Even with the decline, Dogecoin still made big gains over the past month, with data from CoinGecko showing it surging more than 163% in 30 days.
One man must be thanked for this resurgence: Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who started pumping Dogecoin in 2019 on Twitter, the platform he now owns and which has since been renamed “X”.
His incessant posting helped the coin gain a cult following, and its market capitalization increased as a result. That brand now tops $55 billion and has grown in price and market cap since becoming a strong supporter of President-elect Donald Trump this year.
Edited by Sébastien Sinclair
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