First US Spot DOGE ETF Sees $1.4M in Day-One Volumes

Grayscale’s Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) began trading on NYSE Arca on Monday, Nov. 24, giving investors a new way to gain exposure to the 10th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Although the listing marks a milestone for the 12-year-old memecoin, which has been publicly supported by high-profile figures like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban, the GDOG fund reported just $1.7 million in assets, and $1.4 million in first-day trading volume, with net inflows not disclosed, according to data from SoSoValue.

That’s significantly lower than some projections. Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas forecasted in an X post yesterday that day-one trading volume for GDOG could hit as high as $12 million.

For perspective, Canary Capital's recently launched XRP ETF, XRPC, saw $58 million traded on its first day, the highest volumes for an ETF's first trading day so far this year. Bitwise's spot Solana ETF (BSOL) saw similar first-day interest, with $57 million traded on its launch day in late October.

Commenting on GDOG’s performance today, Balchunas called the day-one volumes “solid for an avg launch but low for a 'first-ever spot' product.”

Uncharted Waters

Balchunas noted that Grayscale will have just two days to trade without competition, until Wednesday, Nov. 26, when Bitwise’s Dogecoin ETF is also expected to launch on NYSE Arca under the ticker BWOW.

Although GDOG is the first true spot DOGE ETF available to U.S. investors — meaning it holds DOGE directly, and is registered under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1933 — other products like the REX-Osprey DOGE ETF, available under ticker DOJE, also provide Dogecoin exposure on the Cboe BZX Exchange.

However, unlike DOJE, which gains exposure via a European DOGE ETF and derivative-based instruments, GDOG holds Dogecoin directly in a U.S.-based trust.

Amid the debut, Dogecoin (DOGE) price rose about 2% on the day, and is currently trading at around $0.15, per The Defiant’s price tracking page.

More ETFs to Come

Alongside the Dogecoin ETFs, the U.S. SEC also approved Grayscale’s XRP fund on Nov. 21. But, unlike Dogecoin, XRP already has Canary Capital’s 1933 Act spot ETF trading in the U.S., which debuted earlier this month, among other products.

SoSoValue data shows Grayscale’s entry into the XRP trenches pushed total value traded among spot XRP ETFs to $87.8 million and total net assets to $628.6 million on Nov. 24, roughly double what was reported last Friday, Nov. 21.