Experts Describe DOGE-ETF Debut as ‘Unexpectedly Modest’

DOGE-ETF debut described as 'unexpectedly modest' with $1.8 million attracted on first day.

On November 25, the exchange-traded fund Dogecoin Trust (GDOG) by Grayscale was launched on NYSE Arca. On its first trading day, the meme-token-based product attracted $1.8 million.

Much wow, big excite

Grayscale Dogecoin Trust ETF (Ticker: $GDOG) is now available and offers a 0% Fee¹.
Get exposure to $DOGE, now available right in your brokerage account. pic.twitter.com/xqmNQgTRxS

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) November 26, 2025

At the time of writing, the company manages coins totaling $3.5 million — about 0.02% of the capitalization of DOGE.

Grayscale has set a zero fee for the instrument for the first three months of trading.

However, GDOG is not registered under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940. Consequently, the product does not fall under the rules and protections applied to traditional ETFs and mutual funds.

“Dogecoin is a viral social and financial phenomenon whose value has grown alongside the cryptocurrency class. Historically, the coin has shown a lower correlation with major U.S. stocks compared to other digital assets,” stated Grayscale in a release.

Opinions on the Launch

Bloomberg exchange analyst Eric Balchunas noted that GDOG’s first-day trading figures are decent for an average ETF launch but quite small for the ‘world’s first meme-token-based fund.’

$GDOG (first Doge ETF) saw $1.4m volume on Day One.. solid for an avg launch but low for a ‘first-ever spot’ product. Not too surprising tho, we actually made a rhyme a while ago predicting this: ‘The further away you get from BTC, the less asset there will be.’ pic.twitter.com/ermlOcID1J

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 25, 2025

In comments to ForkLog, Bitget’s chief analyst Ryan Lee also described the instrument’s debut as ‘quite modest.’ He attributed the low demand for the DOGE-ETF to the current market conditions, suggesting it is too early to speak of diminished interest.

“DOGE is among the highly volatile cryptocurrencies, with a risk level much higher than the average altcoin and certainly Bitcoin. When pessimistic sentiments dominate the market and fear outweighs risk appetite, investors tend to reduce positions in meme coins,” Lee added. 

Interest in meme cryptocurrencies has generally declined, and the negative macroeconomic backdrop exacerbates their market position, noted Technobit CEO Alexander Peresichan. 

According to him, the very idea of an exchange-traded fund based on DOGE raises doubts about its prospects, as meme coins are mainly popular among retail investors. 

“If someone wants to buy a meme token, they will do so on a crypto exchange. An investor in a crypto ETF is someone who wants exposure to the crypto market but is not ready to deal with keys and storage. This is not the target audience for meme coins. These are simply different investors who are more interested in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies with more understandable utility,” Peresichan emphasized. 

The launch of the exchange-traded fund did not significantly affect the price of the underlying asset. Over the past day, DOGE has increased by 1.5% — the coin is currently trading around $0.15.

Back on November 24, U.S. spot Solana-ETFs recorded a net capital inflow for the 20th consecutive day.