Doge Day hangover: Dogecoin falls 18% after breakneck rally sends meme cryptocurrency soaring

• Dogecoin fell 19% on Wednesday, the day after its supporters celebrated 'Doge Day.'
• Nonetheless, the meme asset was up a remarkable 390% over 14 days.
• But analysts have warned that investors could get burned by a price crash.

Dogecoin fell 18% on Wednesday after the meme cryptocurrency touched an all-time high of close to $0.42 the previous day following a remarkable rally.

Fans of the digital asset, which is based around the Shiba Inu Doge meme, celebrated April 20 as 'Doge Day' and helped push the coin up to record highs. Even businesses such as Slim Jim and Snickers got involved.

But Dogecoin fell 17.6% in the 24 hours to 10.05 a.m. ET, according to CoinGecko, taking it to $0.31583. That compared to an all-time high of $0.41888 touched on Tuesday.

"The current retail fervor probably won't completely give up on Dogecoin, but a sell-the-event reaction [to Doge Day] could be in the cards," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at currency firm Oanda, said.

Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency's 14-day gain stood at 390%, while its 1-year gain was an astounding 15,900%.

Dogecoin, which was started as a joke in 2013, has captured the attention of the crypto world over recent days.

Its rally has been driven by celebrities such as Elon Musk, who played a part in the latest jump by tweeting an image of "Doge Barking at the Moon" on Thursday.

Many Dogecoin fans had hoped it would rise to $0.50 or even $1 on Doge Day but were left disappointed.

Analysts have compared the Dogecoin phenomenon to GameStop, which day traders sent soaring in January.

Analysts at the Kraken Exchange said in a note on Tuesday: "As the [GameStop] saga has shown, as well as DOGE's price action thus far this year, there's no telling how high memes can send an asset."

Yet many are warning that investors could get burned. Susannah Streeter, senior investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Investors should be extremely cautious about getting caught up in this herd mentality because Dogecoin is very much a speculative bet."