How to Buy Dogecoin: A Beginners Guide to Investing in DOGE

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The cryptocurrency market is well endowed with various coins that interested investors can choose when determining what investment to get into. The big coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum are often the most popular ones. But despite this, the crypto industry also presents meme coins that have quickly swept the market and raised billionaires.

Among these is Dogecoin which is the first of the meme coins that made waves in the crypto industry. In this article, we will be looking in detail at what Dogecoin is, how to buy it, and the benefits to get from it as a beginner in the crypto industry.

What is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is the first of the series of meme coins found in the cryptocurrency industry. It is a leading crypto asset that you can invest, hold, and cash in when the value goes up. It is also one of the top ten valuable cryptocurrencies traded and invested in by companies and individuals.

Buying Dogecoin

Dogecoin is based on a popular internet meme and has quickly gained traction globally, especially with the backing of the world’s richest man Elon Musk. The crypto can be mined like many others through proof of Work (PoW) consensus.

The miners are rewarded with DOGE for solving complex solutions on blockchain technology. However, DOGE does not have a cap on its supply like bitcoin. This makes it less of a sure bet in the market compared to BTC.

As with all meme coins, DOGE’s price swings can be wild at times.  Hence, those considering taking up DOGE as an investment should be cautious because it is incredibly volatile.

A Brief History of Dogecoin

Dogecoin has been in the public domain for some time. While it’s easy to assume that it’s new based on the kind of media coverage it gets, it’s way older than most coins. The meme coin was created in 2013 by Jackson Palmer from Sydney- Australia, with help from a developer from an IBM company called Billy Markus.

The coin began on the internet as a joke and continued to capture a lot of global attention, especially key business elites like Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Markus, the creator of this coin, combined a fusion between Bitcoin and a dog resulting in Dogecoin. DOGE was used first, after its launch, to the surprise of the two engineers with about a million visitors on the dogecoin website getting in the first month.

The meme coin is so popular today and has gone ahead to create ideas for the creation of other meme coins like Shiba Inu. The most exciting thing about DOGE is that it was emanated from an open-source software project known as Litecoin, meaning that it does not have a limit in the number of coins that can be mined in the system.

As the years have done, DOGE has had its ups and downs. But the value of this meme coin has soared to new heights. At one point, DOGE was ranked among the top ten crypto assets by market capitalization. In 2021, the coin even surged past a market cap of $20 billion. It has however retreated below that in recent months.

How to Invest in DogeCoin

Buying dogecoin is quite a simple process. Those who have some knowledge and experience with cryptocurrency can engage the same procedures they have been using with other cryptocurrencies. DOGE is a mainstream coin so it is available in virtually all exchanges. These few steps will help you purchase dogecoin successfully.

Fund Your Wallet

You will need money to buy DOGE, right? So, find and fund a crypto wallet that supports DOGE. If you already have crypto under your portfolio, the most suitable wallet is the one you are using with these other cryptos. There are however a lot of crypto wallets. But if you were to choose, Metamask is the most convenient to use for Dogecoin.

Find an Exchange

Once you have funds in your wallet, the next step is to choose an exchange. Several exchanges will help you buy dogecoin successfully since this is a widely available coin. After all, the major purpose of the exchange is to offer coins for trading.

However, you need to do your due diligence to choose the correct one. Large volume exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Kraken should be ideal to start with.

You can consider the following in choosing the exchanges that will help you buy and grow your Dogecoin in the long run.

a)    Have a list of exchanges that you can use. This will help you have options in case your chosen exchange doesn’t meet the expectations.

b)    Keep your private key a secret once you have verified your KYC.

c)    Ensure that the exchange is a reputable company. There are both genuine and scam exchanges. Do your research well.

d)    Also, consider the fees and prices of dogecoin on different exchanges because they differ.

Buy DOGE

Once you have signed up for an account on the exchange, go ahead and buy from the peer-to-peer section on the platform. To keep your DOGE safe, send them to your wallet and only use them when you have to.

As a rule, never share the private key of your wallet with anyone. Also, make sure you keep those private keys safe and accessible for you. Remember if you lose those keys, your DOGE will be gone forever.

What are some of Dogecoin’s Competitors?

Other Dogecoin-inspired meme coins have emerged in the crypto market. They are all designed to compete with DOGE. Since its initiation, dogecoin has surged about 14000% in 2021. This is because crypto has established itself popularly with apps like Coinbase making coins like DOGE more accessible to the public.

Trade Dogecoin

Despite the Dogecoin growing tremendously after receiving massive support from Elon Musk, it has attracted competition from coins of its kind. Among these are Shiba Inu, Kishu Inu, Dogelon, and others that have rocketed up most recently.

a)    Shiba Inu is a meme coin started under the ETH blockchain and trading on the UniSwap decentralized network. SHIB is the immediate competitor to DOGE and self-declared dogecoin killer. It has produced a lot of wealth with a market cap of $15.2 billion. which is a little lower than dogecoin’s $21 billion.

b)    Kishu Inu is the newest meme coin and fully trading on various decentralized networks. Kishu has also seen some decent growth. This has attracted many investors who have seen its community grow over time.

Other dog meme coins like Floki Inu, UnderDog(DOG), HUSKY, LEASH, and others have experienced a high rise in their value even during the crypto industry’s shaky moments.

There are other categories of competitors known as meme stocks like Gamestop and AMC Inc., which have also risen in their price value in the recent months as investors consider having a share in their volatile nature.

Is Dogecoin a Good Investment?

In general, Dogecoin is a good investment because it has been there for some time and has a passionate community backing it up. The price of Dogecoin has also increased in the long run. However, you have to be prepared for the risks of investing in Dogecoin.

In 2021, Dogecoin skyrocketed about 12000% to hit its all-time high in May. Since then, the coin has lost almost 70% of its value. It’s a significant entry place for any investor who just wants to buy and hold. The best time to invest with crypto is when the crypto values are dipping.

There is also a lot of hype around DOGE and other meme coins. It’s, therefore, a good idea for investors to bank on it. After all, DOGE has survived the test of time. Currently, dogecoin ranks as the 12th most valuable crypto with a market capitalization of about $21 billion, making it an excellent investment to venture into.

It is important to note that, investing in Dogecoin is a very personal choice. As such, it would be a good idea if you did due diligence and weighed your financial abilities before investing. Like any other investment, risks are involved, and with cryptocurrencies, volatility is so high for one to experience significant swings in a brief period.

What to Consider Before You Buy Dogecoin

Dogecoin remains a good investment for many aspiring to venture into the world of meme coins. Even though it has made so many people rich, you just can’t enter into the investment blindly. You may want to consider the following things to help you make the right decision concerning the investment.

How Does Dogecoin Get Its Value?

Knowing what gives a cryptocurrency value will provide you with an upper hand in deciding whether to buy or not. For Dogecoin, the story is different because it began as a joke to bring some kindness and generosity to the crypto world.

However, the devotees used it to make memes, charity fundraising, and raise about $75000 worth of DOGE for different purposes. 

How Dogecoin Fits into My Portfolio

Does dogecoin fit into my investment portfolio, given its volatility is so high? Many cryptocurrencies to date are considered alternative investments. Therefore, many people only allocate a small portion of capital to these investments.

Suppose you have an established portfolio with a low-cost index and an excellent plan to contribute to your taxable brokerage accounts. In that case, adding cryptos like dogecoin to your portfolio will be an added advantage but also keep in mind the risks that come with it.

How Many Dogecons Can I Buy and Where to Buy It?

To help you determine how many dogecoins you can buy, you also have to ask yourself if you could survive if you lose your entire investment tomorrow. Depending on the answer you get after weighing your options, you will be guided into how many dogecoins you can afford to buy and remain financially sound.

There are several places where you can buy your Dogecoins. Like any other cryptocurrency, verify that the platform you are using to buy your DOGE crypto is reputable and authentic. The platform must also be compatible with your crypto wallet-where you store your crypto. Coinbase, Gemini, and others are good platforms to buy your dogecoin.

What Are the Risks of Buying Dogecoin and Other Memecoins?

In the truest sense, dogecoin does not have any real purpose apart from being a driver of good to the world. It does not have any serious underlying commercial or economic value. Meme coins have no intrinsic value because they are highly speculative and entirely depend on the crypto market forces for their value.

DOGE and meme coins are largely unknown zones in the crypto industry because of their volatile nature, and they have no physical representation. It’s also worth noting that there are meme coins that only the developers hold more tokens than investors. These meme coins are a significant risk because the developers might collapse everything and take off with a big chunk.

Other meme coins are prone to scams. There are about 250 meme coins in the crypto market, with about 100 having the word Inu in their name. These new projects, at times, come with scams like the rug pull. An excellent example of these meme coins is the squid token and the newest snowdog.

Conclusion

Dogecoin has found favor with the Doge Father Elon musk. 2021 has seen meme coins rise from the ashes to reach new heights, especially for Dogecoin. However, as earlier mentioned, Dogecoin and other meme coins have no physical representation, even though Elon Musk is trying to give DOGE one.

Most recently, Shiba Inu has been receiving a lot of support from individuals and companies. Currently, businesses are accepting SHIB as payment for their goods and services like AMC Inc., Tesla, and GameStop.

The Dogecoin community is still passionate about fueling the progress of dogecoin. This support will soon make the hyped idea of meme coins so successful. Most of the meme coins have been listed on exchanges and might be very lucrative ventures in the long run.

We hope this information will help you in your investment process, but this is not investment advice. Every investment carries risk, especially in this industry, so DYOR before making a decision.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tabitha Nyamburah
Journalist

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