Cryptocurrencies are notorious for their extreme price volatility, one of the major reasons why some traditional investors prefer to keep their distance.
On April 18, the crypto market experienced one of the biggest price corrections it has ever had since the start of 2021. Many assets shed more than 20% of their value within a few hours and over $360 billion was shredded from the total capitalization.
Bitcoin’s price slumped from its Wednesday all-time high (ATH) value of above $64,000 to as low as $50,700 on some exchanges on Sunday morning. And Ether (ETH) lost as much as 18% of its dollar value on that day, dropping from above $2,500 to $1,950.
One cryptocurrency seemed unaffected, however.
However, meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) stood its ground amid the market crash, as it continued to trade high. The coin was barely shaken during the bloodbath on Sunday. DOGE quickly rose by 30%, currently trading above $0.4 and looks set to break its USD all-time high. Last Friday, the DOGE/USD pair reached an all-time high of $0.415459.
Even more impressively, DOGE’s performance against BTC seems unparalleled. At the time of this writing, it’s trading above its previous all-time high of 740 SAT on Binance, looking primed to overtake it any moment.
Dogecoin’s fame skyrocketed when it was noticed by WallStreetBets (WSB), a subreddit board where retail investors discuss stock and options trading, and the billionaire CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk.
Retail investors at WSB used the short-squeeze phenomenon on GameStop stocks, pushing the price of the stocks to extreme limits and subsequently prompting several exchanges to halt trading immediately.
However, the enraged investors channeled their energy and time to pump the price of DOGE, causing the digital currency’s price to grow by more than 1100% within a short while.
Musk also catapulted the digital asset’s fame with his constant tweets and comments showing support. With over 40 million followers on Twitter, DOGE became a household name within the crypto community, a coin that had been created mainly as a joke back in 2013.
The Tesla boss had, at one point, offered to support DOGE if its largest holders liquidated a substantial amount of their portfolio or even emptied their accounts.
Dogecoin’s market cap has surpassed that of several major banks in the world, including Barclays, and is currently sitting at over $49 billion.
