Kraken’s DOGE and SOL Perps Volume Soars As BTC Nears $100K

The cryptocurrency market continues its bullish momentum as Bitcoin edges closer to the $100,000 mark.

The rally is driving a surge in perpetuals trading volume on Kraken, a top U.S. centralized exchange, with Dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana (SOL) activity soaring to new highs.

Dogecoin perpetual contracts on Kraken surpassed Ethereum in 24-hour volume for the first time. Meanwhile, Solana perpetual contracts hit $2.5 billion this November, with DOGE close behind with $2.3 billion — both marking all-time highs.

“Kraken has experienced a surge in our perpetual contract volumes as a variety of traders have sought leveraged exposure or to hedge risk throughout the post-election market upturn,” said Alexia Theodorou, Kraken’s head of derivatives. “While a lot of this activity has been concentrated in Bitcoin futures, both Dogecoin and Solana have exhibited greater volatility… and have been clear beneficiaries of the recent rally.”

Kraken’s perpetual trading volumes are projected to hit $27 billion this month, closing in on the platform’s all-time high of $35.8 billion from May 2023. Kraken hosted $1.97 billion worth of trade over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

Solana posts new all-time highs

SOL surged past its previous high of $259.96 set in November 2021, tagging $262 late Thursday night. SOL is up 9% in the past 24 hours, driven by weeks of sustained bullish momentum.

SOL has enjoyed meteoric gains since being brutalized amid the fallout from the November 2022 collapse of FTX — a prominent Solana investor — driving its price to a low of $8. SOL has gained 3,130% since.

The recovery has been fueled by a spike in activity on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) amid the recent memecoin trading frenzy.

Solana’s weekly decentralized exchange (DEX) volume is at a record high of nearly $35.4 billion, more than double Ethereum’s $16.5 billion. Solana accounted for 41% of combined DEX volume over the past 24 hours, according to DeFiLlama.

Dogecoin rallies

Dogecoin is the best-performing top 10 cryptocurrency of the past two weeks, with DOGE nearly tripling to tag a three-year high of $0.42 on Nov. 12. Dogecoin is also up 338% year-to-date and boasts a market capitalization of $57 billion.

The affinity for DOGE of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has helped to propel Dogecoin’s recent growth. Musk is expected to be appointed by the U.S. president-elect, Donald Trump, to serve on the Department Of Government Efficiency — which has the same acronym as Dogecoin’s ticker.

Musk has consistently promoted DOGE on social media since being chosen by the Dogecoin community as its preferred hypothetical CEO in 2019. Musk responded by proclaiming that Dogecoin might be his favorite cryptocurrency.

DOGE tagged an all-time high of more than $0.73 in May 2021.

Markets buoyed by pending Gensler resignation

The rally in Kraken’s activity comes as Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced his resignation on Thursday, effective January 20, 2025.

Gensler’s tenure has been characterized by a series of aggressive enforcement actions against major cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken. In February 2023, the SEC reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken over its staking services.

The agency has also targeted Uniswap Labs, the developers behind the leading decentralized exchange; OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace; Consensys, and Immutable, a Layer 2 solution focused on web3 gaming.

Over the past two years, these lawsuits have contributed to uncertainty within the crypto industry, with some accusing Gensler of orchestrating a campaign of regulation-by-enforcement to stifle the growth of digital assets.

At the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in July, Trump promised to fire Gensler during his first day in office.