Ripple’s XRP posted gains like Bitcoin’s [BTC] sudden increase pulled the market into the green. However, the token still lagged behind most major assets.
The surge caused massive market liquidations as traders were caught off guard by Bitcoin’s sudden jump. While sentiment has improved, XRP’s struggle to keep pace with the rest of the sector is concerning.
BTC leads, top alts follow
Bitcoin jumped a few hours ago, rising almost 10% in one candle per hour and pulling the rest of the market along with it.
Ethereum [ETH] responded most strongly among the majors, up about 6.1%, while Solana [SOL] posted a gain of 2.32%.
The spike is one of the fastest moves of the day among the top assets, with BTC’s sudden breakout boosting the entire party.
Source: TradingView
After the first wave, however, things calmed down. Prices retreated from their intraday highs and most assets settled within a tight range as traders reevaluated. Follow-up has so far been limited.
A possible reason why? A burst of large BTC inflows (including thousands of BTC purchases by major trading firms and a significant whale) widely distributed on X as the first sign of coordinated buying.
Source:
The move came just as the US Office of the Comptroller of the Monet clarified that banks can carry out risk-free crypto transactions.
Source: occ.gov
The Fed’s interest rate decision (which will take place later today) will also be something to watch. With macro sentiment cautious, the central bank’s tone could influence crypto as much as the decision itself.
Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau, told AMBCrypto:
“While almost 90% of market participants now expect a rate cut and that is largely priced in, it is the forward guidance that matters, and investors appear to be betting on a “hawk-like cut” tomorrow.”
XRP is an outlier
While Bitcoin and the major altcoins posted strong gains, XRP’s response was much more muted. The token rose to around $2.17 but then quickly faded, sending it back towards $2.08 at the time of writing.
That’s an increase of only about 1-2% from pre-peak levels. Compared to ETH and SOL, XRP’s upside was limited.
Source: TradingView
XRP’s RSI showed weak buying pressure, while the OBV also trended lower – there was little improvement in demand.
Traders get stuck on the wrong side
This caused a huge wave of liquidations, releasing more than $423 million in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin had the largest share at $166.89 million, followed by Ethereum at $134.77 million. Therefore, markets were clearly heavily leveraged heading into the peak.
Source: CoinGlass
Short positions bore the brunt, with $310.27 million lost, compared to $113.07 million in long liquidations.
Even within the last hour, positions worth over $2.34 million were liquidated, showing how abrupt this was. The largest single liquidation order reached almost $24 million on a BTC-USDT pair.
Final thoughts
- XRP’s relative slowdown during Bitcoin’s rally is concerning.
- With over $423 million in liquidations and volatility still high, traders should brace for swings.