The meme-based cryptocurrencies Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) experienced a 9% surge on Thursday, reflecting a trend toward riskier crypto trades amid bitcoin‘s market dominance. The rally coincided with the launch of video and audio calling features for premium users by social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which has fueled speculation about the potential acceptance of DOGE as a payment option.
Elon Musk, CEO of X, has been a notable supporter of DOGE, even featuring it in a segment on Saturday Night Live. This support was echoed by DogeDesigner (@cb_doge), who tweeted in favor of X’s new feature. Following these developments, trading volume for DOGE and SHIB jumped from $350 million on Monday to $1.2 billion on Thursday, accompanied by a 50% increase in futures open interest.
The current bull run in the crypto market has seen a broad increase in coin values as traders bet on riskier assets such as bitcoin following its recent market dominance and extended consolidation period. Major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum have been vying for supremacy in the crypto space, with the price of bitcoin rising 30% due to growing interest in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This rise has also impacted Ethereum, Solana and XRP, which together saw a 40% gain.
However, DOGE and SHIB have underperformed compared to these major cryptos, only gaining 15% over the same period. Despite this disparity, there is evidence that DOGE price spikes often precede a market-wide crash. According to blockchain analytics firm Santiment, there have been eight instances in which a rapid increase in the DOGE price marked the local top of bitcoin. This pattern was seen when Musk briefly changed Twitter’s logo to the Dogecoin logo following his $44 billion acquisition of the platform, triggering a 37% DOGE rally.
Currently, Dogecoin is priced at $0.066744 (DOGE/USD) with a market value of $9.45 billion USD, while Shiba Inu‘s market value is $4.71 billion USD with a live price of $0.000008 (SHIB/USD). The global crypto market valuation is $1.25 trillion, with bitcoin holding a 53.17% dominance.
