Popular meme tokens dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) jumped some 9% in the past 24 hours, which suggests crypto traders are taking riskier bets on the back of bitcoin’s (BTC) outperformance.
Although there were no immediate catalysts for SHIB and DOGE tokens, the prices jumped on Thursday after social media platform X, formerly Twitter, revealed a video calling feature for premium users. This was likely a sign of irrational exuberance – as some traders have historically expected X to add DOGE as a payment option.
X CEO Elon Musk has often touted dogecoin as one of his favorite cryptocurrencies, even going as far as dedicating a segment to the meme coin during his appearance on the popular TV show “Saturday Night Live” in 2021. Twitter also briefly changed its logo to the dogecoin logo in April to spur a rally that gained as much as 37% for some traders.
Cumulative trading volumes for the tokens jumped to $1.2 billion on Thursday from $350 million on Monday, data shows.
Elsewhere, open interest in DOGE and SHIB futures spiked over 50% – indicating larger bets placed by traders who expect more volatility in the coming days.
Hopes of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) helped bump bitcoin prices some 30% over the past week before retreating, with ether (ETH), solana (SOL) and xrp (XRP) adding as much as 40%.
DOGE and SHIB added just 15% in the same period. However, the tokens underperformed other majors despite being generally more volatile.
Meanwhile, a run-up in both these tokens has historically marked a local top for bitcoin and other major tokens. “Every time that the price of DOGE starts rising rapidly, there’s a market-wide crash following just moments later,” blockchain analytics firm Santiment said in a report last December.
Eight instances of price spikes of dogecoin marked the local top for bitcoin – and the crypto market – in 2022, Santiment noted in its report.