When the Bitcoin price becomes extremely volatile, one would assume that most altcoins follow the same pattern. So far, that has been proven the case once again. However, XRP is successfully bucking the trend. After surpassing US$1 for the first time in its history, the XRP price hasn’t budged all that much despite Bitcoin’s wild swings. It’s an interesting development well worth paying attention to.
XRP Price Remains on Track
Big was people’s surprise when they suddenly saw the XRP price rise all the way to US$1 and beyond yesterday. Although some level-headed people know that is still a low value considering what this digital asset has to offer, XRP is not safe from wild price fluctuations either. In the past, the XRP price was heavily linked to Bitcoin’s value. That now seems to be a thing of the past, although there’s still a minor correlation between the two.
More specifically, the XRP price hit US$1.34 before Bitcoin started going down a very slippery slope. As is usually the case, the XRP price dropped a bit, then bounced back before dropping again. In most cases, such gains would be wiped out completely, but that was not the case here. Even at its lowest, XRP never traded below US$0.85. Fast forward to right now, and that same XRP is trading at US$1.07 once again. That’s quite a remarkable feat, but then again, Ripple’s asset is not your average crypto in any way.
While the XRP price is still pretty unstable right now, it’s holding its own quite well. After all, it’s the only asset or currency in the top 10 to have gained nearly 20% against BTC over the last 24 hours. All altcoins dropped significantly against both fiat and Bitcoin, which is only normal. Whether or not this means the XRP price has effectively decoupled from Bitcoin other than for a few loose threads is very difficult to gauge. Both markets cater to very different crowds, for obvious reasons.
With over US$4.69 billion in 24-hour trading volume, it is safe to say the demand for XRP hasn’t diminished all that much. In fact, it may very well be a safe haven to protect traders from Bitcoin’s price volatility right now. This digital asset is still subject to major speculation, though, which is only normal for any currency or asset traded against cryptocurrencies. At the same time, Ripple’s asset is not your average speculative tool by any means either.
Unsurprisingly, most of Ripple’s recent trading volume has come from Bithumb. All Korean exchanges list an XRP price of US$1.26 or higher. It is obvious the South Korean crowd never partook in the massive panic affecting all cryptocurrencies and assets. It is unclear why the West suddenly decided to ruin most people’s Christmases. Rest assured more people would love to take advantage of this arbitrage opportunity with Korean platforms.
For now, it’s unclear what the future holds for the XRP price. We may very well see a push to US$2 and higher materialize a lot sooner than people think. Once all of the Bitcoin shenanigans are over, things will certainly get very interesting for all altcoins and assets. For now, the XRP price is doing what most other cryptos are failing to do: holding onto previous gains, for the most part.
