On December 9, dogecoin reached its 2024 high at US$0.467, mainly because of the hype surrounding the DOGE unit led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Since then, however, dogecoin has fallen again.

Other memecoins also experienced significant declines. While the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) fell nearly 16 percent, the price of PEPE dropped even more than 22 percent.

At the time of writing, DOGE is trading at US$0.331, representing a price loss of 29 percent since its peak in mid-December. Meanwhile, its market capitalization has fallen to US$49 billion.

"The mood was almost at its lowest point over the past year," writes cryptanalysis firm Santiment in a new report. The firm has given Dogecoin a decidedly bearish market sentiment rating, with 1 on a scale of 5.

The report continues: "Crypto's top mecoin was extremely quiet, apart from a temporary spike at the beginning of the year (concurrent with Elon Musk's short-lived name change of his handle to 'Kekius Maximus')."

But that may actually be a good time to get in. Once the crypto markets begin to rise again, there would be "attractive prospects" if one chooses a contrarian investment policy in Dogecoin now.

Memo coins are considered highly speculative and volatile, even compared to other cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, the top 10 coins have recorded growth of more than 2,000 percent over the past year - only AI coins did even better.

Should "Dogefather" and Tesla CEO Elon Musk once again speak positively about Dogecoin or cause a stir with the DOGE unit, it could fuel a new rally. At the same time, however, there are security risks associated with the DOGE network.