Dogecoin Is Ripping Higher: What's Going On?

Popular meme token Dogecoin DOGE/USD is rallying Thursday as broader optimism surrounding the crypto space spreads to riskier tokens on the heels of a recent surge in the price of Bitcoin BTC/USD. Here's a look at what's going on. 

What To Know: The crypto market has trended higher in recent weeks driven by continued optimism surrounding a potential spot Bitcoin ETF.

Blackrock and several other major financial firms have amended ETF applications in recent weeks. Grayscale continues to push to transition its Bitcoin trust into a spot Bitcoin ETF and JPMorgan recently said the SEC is likely to approve a spot ETF within the next few months.

Alt coins tend to rally following sharp upward moves in the price of Bitcoin as speculation broadens. That trend appears to be playing out again.

Open interest in Dogecoin and other meme coin futures surged about 50% on Thursday as traders anticipate an increase in volatility, per CoinDesk. 

Dogecoin is up more than 23% over the last week and is up nearly 8% in just the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro. 

Pomp Investments' Anthony Pompliano noted that he expects Bitcoin to rally "hundreds of percent" above its old highs during the next bull run. A move like that could lead to even larger gains for risker, more volatile alt coins like Dogecoin. Pompliano told CNBC this week that every great investor he knows is going risk-on right now. 

"They're buying these assets at suppressed prices," Pompliano said. 

Dogecoin is well off its all-time highs of approximately 74 cents and remains popular among retail traders. It has been trending on Stocktwits in recent days and was among the top trending tickers at publication time.

See Also: Ethereum Tops $1,800 Following Economic Data; Gala, Dogecoin Among Top Gainers

$DOGE Price Action: Dogecoin was up 7.94% at $0.07144 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Kevin_Y from Pixabay.