Dogecoin is up 50% since Elon Musk fallout with Trump

Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump has proven to be one of the most significant political dramas this year, affecting the billionaire’s businesses and now seemingly delivering a surprising boost to the crypto market.

Namely, since the fallout started following the June 5 spat regarding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Dogecoin (DOGE), Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency has surged nearly 50%, climbing from $0.1882 to $0.2799 on September 18.

What’s more, the meme coin is not only up 5.42% on the day at the time of writing, but it is also the biggest gainer among the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies over the past week, outperforming the market with an 11.43% surge.

Dogecoin ETFs on the horizon

The rally has largely been fuelled by the launch of the spot Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) scheduled for today, together with the long-awaited XRP ETF.

Underscoring the rising demand for diversified crypto exposure beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) on behalf of both institutional and retail investors, the launch of REX-Osprey Dogecoin ETF (DOJE) generated a lot of speculation regarding the cryptocurrency’s potential trajectory in the following months.

“Like I said, the next couple of months will be wild,” said ETF Store president Nate Geraci on X.

The ETF debut also comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faces deadlines on multiple other spot applications, including Grayscale’s attempt to convert its own Dogecoin Trust into an ETF by mid-October. 

Accordingly, market watchers expect to see the digital currency transition from a meme coin to a Wall Street-backed financial product, with price targets as high as $5 floating around as some of the more bullish projections.