In typical fashion, it has been an extremely volatile year for Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) . While the cryptocurrency market overall has gained 20% in value, now worth $2 trillion, the dog-themed token is up just 5% in 2024 (as of Aug. 6).

Dogecoin trades a gut-wrenching 86% off its peak price of under $0.74 in 2021. But can this cryptocurrency skyrocket more than tenfold from today's price to one day reach the psychologically important $1 mark?

The Dogecoin roller coaster

Dogecoin hit its record price in May 2021, during the time when meme stock mania took over the stock market. That enthusiasm led to bullish activity in the crypto industry as well. As one of the most speculative tokens out there, Dogecoin benefited tremendously.

But in the crypto market, what quickly goes up usually comes down rapidly as well. That's what happens when a particular token's price is driven more by speculative behavior than by any sort of fundamentals.

For example, Dogecoin's price has gained anytime one of its well-known supporters, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, talks about it publicly. There is hope that the social media platform the tech mogul owns, X (formerly known as Twitter), could integrate Dogecoin as a potential payment facilitator.

However, any excitement is usually short-lived. This has happened in 2024, too. From the start of this year to March 29, Dogecoin soared 144%. Since then, it's down 57%. I don't think there's any reason to believe this kind of boom-and-bust price action is going to change. And that makes it difficult for someone to invest.

Focus on the fundamentals

What would it take for Dogecoin to rise tenfold to reach $1? It's actually a simple answer. There needs to be strong demand for people to want to own Dogecoin in their portfolios. I'm not sure if this will happen in a meaningful way.

Dogecoin was created to be a lighthearted rival to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) . Dogecoin aims to be a payment network, and it also runs a proof-of-work consensus protocol. But that's where the similarities probably end.

Bitcoin has become a legitimate financial asset over the years. Investors find immense value in its decentralized nature and fixed supply cap. Bitcoin is not only taking on gold as a popular store of value, but the network is a competitor to the current monetary system.

On the other hand, there are currently 145 billion Dogecoin tokens in circulation. That figure expands by 10,000 every single minute, and there is no upper limit. This couldn't be further from Bitcoin's level of scarcity. In fact, Dogecoin's abundant supply makes it hard for the price to significantly rise. T

The community support that Dogecoin has been able to attract is admirable. Right now, it's the ninth-most-valuable blockchain network , with a market cap of $14 billion.

However, I believe it has virtually no utility. And it doesn't have that many developers working on advancing the network. This doesn't bode well for its long-term viability. Eventually, the market might start to question if Dogecoin should even exist.

For someone looking to invest their hard-earned savings into an asset, there are many better choices. Digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum could satisfy your crypto allocation. There are even growth tech stocks that could provide a better alternative for investors who are comfortable taking on more risk in the equity markets.

Not only do I view Dogecoin as an investment you're better off not making, I don't see its price ever getting to $1 per token.

Before you buy stock in Dogecoin, consider this: