As Dogecoin Rally Mutes, 'Cheaper' Ethereum, Bitcoin Look-Alikes Strike Massive Gains

Dogecoin (DOGE) traded nearly 17% lower on Thursday night at press time as the cryptocurrency took a breather from its recent upwards march, but Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) charted a different course.

What Happened: DOGE traded 17.10% lower at $0.53 ahead of Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk’s scheduled appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

Musk promised on social media this week that he would “definitely” touch on “Summin about The DOGEFATHER” on the variety show.

Still, the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency is up 71.69% over a seven-day trailing period, but the rise of DOGE has been eclipsed by others such as ETC and BCD.

See Also: How to Buy Dogecoin (DOGE)

ETC has risen 288.47% over the period of seven days, while BCD has risen 200.1%. At press time, ETC traded 36.08% higher at $128.65 and BCD was up 79.82% at $6.76.

ETC reached an all-time high of $176.16 on Thursday and has declined 24.75% from those levels.

Why It Matters: Ethereum Classic emerged as a result of a hard fork of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain in 2016. Bitcoin Diamond is a fork of Bitcoin (BTC) that took place in 2017.

See Also: Why Is Ethereum Classic Surging, How Is It Different From Ethereum?

ETH traded 0.98% lower at $3,456.75 at press time, while BTC traded 1.3% lower at $56,292.17 at press time.

ETC’s year-to-date gains have outpaced those of both BTC and ETH and it has captured the attention of social media investors.

Synergia Capital’s head of research, Denis Vinokourov, said the appreciation in ETC “appears to be dominated by ‘cheaper’ Ethereum play and retail flow that has pushed DOGE to sky-high levels,”  according to CoinDesk.

There is a potential for investors to confuse various forks of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Recently a fork of Bitcoin — Bitcoin Gold (BTG) — may have appreciated because of its ticker’s similarity with a Bitcoin fund.

Read Next: Could Elon Musk's SNL Hosting Tank Dogecoin Price With Profit-Booking?