The Dogecoin ETF space got a little more crowded this week. Bitwise rolled out its new Dogecoin ETF on Wednesday, joining Grayscale's offering in what's shaping up to be an interesting test of investor appetite for regulated meme coin exposure.
Bitwise Brings BWOW To The New York Stock Exchange
Bitwise officially launched its Bitwise Dogecoin ETF under ticker BWOW on the New York Stock Exchange this week. The product received certification from NYSE Arca on Tuesday, clearing the way for trading to begin Wednesday morning.
According to the firm, BWOW aims to provide investors with regulated access to Dogecoin (DOGE) exposure. That matters because plenty of long-time holders have been asking for an ETF structure that offers easier custody and better transparency than holding the tokens directly.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley defended the decision to build a product around what started as an internet joke. "Dogecoin has kept its relevance longer than almost anything else in cryptocurrency," Horsley said, pointing to the token's cultural staying power and active community.
He's not wrong. Despite originating as a parody of Bitcoin, DOGE remains widely used and recognizable, which apparently gave Bitwise enough confidence to wrap it in an ETF.
Grayscale's GDOG Finally Sees Some Action After Quiet Launch
Grayscale's Dogecoin ETF had a rougher start. The fund began trading on November 24 but failed to attract any primary-market participation from authorized participants on day one. That's an uncommon outcome for a newly listed single-asset fund, especially one tied to a crypto token with as much name recognition as Dogecoin.
Things improved on Tuesday. GDOG logged its first $1.80 million in net creations, pushing total net assets to $3.50 million. Still modest, but at least it's movement.
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas previously noted that GDOG's $1.4 million day-one trading volume was "solid for an average launch but low for a first-ever spot product." Translation: not terrible, but underwhelming given the hype around crypto ETFs this year.
The fact that inflows picked up on day two suggests institutional desks might be sitting on the sidelines, watching how these DOGE-linked products perform before committing serious capital. That's a reasonable approach given how volatile meme coins can be.
DOGE Price Struggles Near Channel Lows With Sellers In Control
While ETF issuers are busy launching products, Dogecoin itself continues to struggle. The token trades near $0.152 after failing to reclaim the mid-channel level last week. That's not great if you're long.
Dogecoin has been trading inside a broad descending channel for months now, and the technical picture looks increasingly bearish. The 20-day EMA sits at $0.158, acting as immediate resistance. Above that, the 50-day EMA near $0.179 and the 100-day EMA around $0.195 both continue sloping downward.
Parabolic SAR signals are printing above the candles, reinforcing the bearish structure. Every attempt to break above the 20-day EMA has been rejected, showing that bullish momentum is fading fast.
If DOGE drops below the mid-November low near $0.148, things could get ugly. Liquidity zones around $0.135 and potentially even $0.11 along the channel's median line could come into play.
For the technical picture to shift, Dogecoin would need a decisive daily close above both the 20-day EMA and the descending trendline. That would open the path toward $0.17. Any broader recovery likely faces persistent selling pressure unless the token breaks out of the channel's upper boundary near $0.22, which feels like a tall order given current momentum.
So you've got two new ETFs trying to drum up interest in Dogecoin exposure just as the underlying token trades near multi-month lows within a bearish pattern. The timing isn't exactly ideal, but that's often how these things work. Whether retail and institutional investors are ready to bet on the meme coin via regulated products remains to be seen.