Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin Are on the Move Higher Today

Another day, another cryptocurrency rally for investors to talk about.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) are among the three megacap crypto tokens on the move higher today. As of 2 p.m. ET, these three tokens have surged 3.6%, 4.5%, and 4.2%, respectively, from 4 p.m. ET yesterday.

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With today's moves, Bitcoin has once again moved closer (within around 3%) to a new all-time high, and Ethereum and Dogecoin continue to trend in the right direction for long-term bulls.

What's interesting is that the typical correlation we've seen between risk assets (equities) and crypto assets has broken down to a certain degree of late, and this is certainly noticeable today, with all three major stock indices trading lower at the time of this writing. Here's why these three cryptos are outperforming so many asset classes today.

A range of catalysts moving the needle

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin are often considered the "big three" cryptos among traders, with three of the largest market capitalizations in their respective niches. Bitcoin is often viewed as a store of value, Ethereum as a way to play the rise of decentralized finance applications and smart contracts, and Dogecoin as representative of more speculative meme assets. Accordingly, each will typically have their own unique drivers moving the needle on any particular day.

Bitcoin's move today, and to a large extent in recent weeks, has a lot to do with commentary from President Donald Trump. Trump has run as the most pro-crypto candidate in history, and was elected in part due to various promises made relating to setting up a national digital asset stockpile. This promise appears to be moving forward, with Trump announcing on Thursday that he's directed his team to explore this matter further. Of course, as the world's largest (and most prominent) cryptocurrency, Bitcoin will most likely benefit the most from this directive.

Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Dogecoin could certainly see some benefit from this announcement, but there does appear to be other token-specific news investors are paying close attention to when it comes to these projects.

For Ethereum, founder Vitalik Buterin has put forward scaling plans for the Ethereum network and incentives for developers and layer-2 networks to build on Ethereum and allocate a portion of their fees to Ethereum, something that could boost demand for the token (and potentially result in lower supply over time via burning). These plans are certainly welcome for many investors who have bemoaned the traditionally high underperformance gap between the two largest cryptos in recent years.

Dogecoin's valuation surge has continued to rely on rhetoric from the likes of Elon Musk (and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative) and other political tailwinds as well. This week's surge, which has continued into Friday, appears to be mostly driven by interest in DOGE following the launch of the official U.S. Department of Government Efficiency website. How much meaningful fundamental activity results from these otherwise exogenous catalysts remains to be seen, but it's clear that Dogecoin's status as a top speculative asset to be traded remains intact with this week's moves.

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Chris MacDonald has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.