What to Know

  • XRP trades around $1.33, about 62.5% below its early January 2018 peak of $3.55.
  • The token briefly rose above its old high to $3.66 in July 2025 before falling back sharply.
  • Bitcoin is up 314% from its December 2017 peak of $19,804, while ether is up 66% from its comparable high.
  • Dogecoin is up 322% from its January 2018 high, BNB is up about 2,800%, and zcash is up 38%.
  • Tron remains slightly below its old peak, down about 4%, while Solana launched in 2020 and does not have a 2017 cycle high.
  • Market analysts cite XRP’s circulating supply growth from 38.7B in 2017 to 63.1B as a major factor limiting price recovery.
  • XRP funds have attracted $1.80 billion since debuting nearly a year ago, lagging bitcoin and ether fund demand.
  • Nansen data shows XRP spot volume down 53.5%, perpetual futures volume down 44%, and active addresses down 10.7%.
  • The SEC sued Ripple and two executives in December 2020 over about $1.3 billion in alleged unregistered XRP sales.
  • The case ended in August 2025 after both sides dropped appeals, following a 2024 order for Ripple to pay a $125 million penalty.

XRP’s Long Wait for a Durable Breakout

XRP has become one of the clearest examples of how simply holding a large cryptocurrency through multiple market cycles does not always translate into wealth creation. The token, which is native to the XRP Ledger and closely associated with Ripple’s payments business, remains far below the level it reached during the speculative surge that carried into early January 2018. While bitcoin, ether and several other major digital assets have gone on to exceed their prior peaks, XRP holders who bought near the top of that cycle are still waiting for a sustained recovery.

XRP currently trades around $1.33, leaving it about 62.5% below its early January 2018 peak of $3.55. That gap is striking because the broader crypto market has matured considerably since the 2017 cycle. Institutional products, exchange-traded funds, deeper derivatives markets and wider public awareness have all helped reshape the digital asset landscape. Yet XRP’s price has not maintained a lasting move beyond its old high, even though it briefly reached $3.66 in July 2025 before crashing back.

The contrast with other major tokens is stark. Bitcoin, trading at $82,071.33 in the cited market context, is up 314% from its December 2017 peak of $19,804. Ether, at $2,451.87, is up 66% from its earlier high. Dogecoin, at $0.08214, is up 322% from its January 2018 high, while BNB, at $730.32, is up about 2,800%. Zcash is up 38% from its comparable peak. Tron is one of the few other large older assets still slightly below its old high, down about 4%. Solana, by contrast, launched in 2020 and therefore does not fit into the same 2017 comparison window.

Supply Growth Has Diluted the Price Story

One of the central explanations cited by analysts is supply. XRP’s circulating supply grew 63%, rising from 38.7B in 2017 to 63.1B. When more tokens enter circulation, each unit represents a smaller share of the total network value, all else being equal. That means the market capitalization can recover more meaningfully than the individual token price, creating a disconnect between the value of the network and the experience of investors who focus only on the dollar price per coin.

Nicolai Sondergaard, senior research analyst at Nansen, framed the issue in terms of ownership share. XRP’s total market value fell only about 3% over the comparison period, while circulating supply expanded sharply. In that structure, more XRP in circulation means each token accounts for a smaller claim on roughly the same overall value. For peak buyers, the practical result is that the market can look healthier on a capitalization basis while still leaving the token price well below the old record.

Oliver Carding, head of marketing at Tesseract Group, has made a similar point from a valuation perspective. Tesseract is an institutional digital asset management firm with over $500 million in assets under management. Carding noted that XRP looks better when measured by total circulating value rather than spot price. With about 63% more XRP in circulation than at the earlier peak, the same circulating market capitalization would imply a price roughly 39% lower. That does not erase the disappointment for long-term holders, but it helps explain why the chart has not mirrored bitcoin’s or ether’s path.

Fund Flows Have Not Matched Bitcoin and Ether

Another reason XRP has struggled to keep pace is weaker demand from investment products. U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds have become a major bridge between traditional finance and digital assets, giving institutions and financial advisers a regulated route to gain crypto exposure. Bitcoin and ether products have benefited most from that shift, drawing substantial inflows and reinforcing their status as the market’s dominant institutional choices.

XRP funds have not seen the same level of investor demand. Paul Howard, senior director at market-making firm Wincent, described ETF uptake as muted relative to bitcoin and ether. XRP funds have attracted $1.80 billion in investor money since debuting nearly a year ago. That is meaningful in isolation, but it trails the scale of demand seen in bitcoin products, which can draw more than $1 billion in investor money in a single day. In a market increasingly driven by fund flows and institutional allocation models, that gap matters.

Lower fund demand can feed into weaker price momentum. When asset managers, advisers and institutions direct capital toward bitcoin and ether first, those tokens benefit from persistent buy-side pressure, deeper liquidity and stronger market narratives. XRP’s more limited fund participation means it has had less help from the structural flows that have supported the largest crypto assets during the current cycle.

Trading Activity and Network Use Have Weakened

Beyond fund flows, market activity indicators also point to softer demand for XRP. Nansen data shows XRP spot volume down 53.5%, perpetual futures volume down 44%, and active addresses down 10.7%. These measures are not identical, but together they suggest less trading intensity and less visible network engagement than bulls would want to see from an asset trying to reclaim and hold a multiyear high.

Spot volume reflects immediate buying and selling in the token itself, while perpetual futures volume captures leveraged trading interest. Active addresses are often used as a rough indicator of network participation, though they do not perfectly measure genuine user growth. When all three metrics weaken, technical traders and market participants may become more cautious, particularly if price action already shows underperformance versus bitcoin and ether.

This does not mean XRP lacks a user base or market presence. It remains one of the largest digital assets by market value and continues to trade across major venues. However, weaker participation data can make it harder for the token to attract momentum-driven buyers, especially in a market where capital often rotates quickly toward assets with stronger narratives, higher activity and clearer catalysts.

Ripple’s Payments Focus Has Shaped the Narrative

Ripple’s business focus has also influenced how XRP is perceived. Ripple has long concentrated on payment infrastructure, cross-border settlement, RLUSD and trade financing products built around the ledger and token ecosystem. That focus gives XRP a distinct identity, but it has also kept the asset less exposed to some of the faster-moving crypto sectors that attracted major capital flows in recent cycles.

DeFi, AI-linked tokens and memecoins have captured investor attention at different points, while ether, solana and other ecosystems have benefited from narratives around decentralized applications, trading, staking, liquidity and on-chain experimentation. Howard noted that DeFi investment into ETH, SOL and HYPE became a new narrative that XRP has not emphasized. For many traders, narratives matter because they create a reason to allocate, speculate and build around an asset.

XRP’s payments-centered thesis is more institutional and utility-oriented, but that does not always translate into the same speculative energy seen in sectors that dominate crypto social and trading cycles. As the market has broadened, investors have more choices, and those choices have diluted attention away from older assets that do not sit at the center of current themes.

The SEC Case Left a Long Shadow

Regulatory uncertainty was another major drag. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple and two executives in December 2020, alleging the company raised about $1.3 billion by selling XRP without registering it as a security. The case became one of the most closely watched legal battles in crypto because of its potential implications for token sales, exchanges and secondary-market trading.

A federal judge ruled in 2023 that XRP sales on public exchanges were not securities offerings, while sales to institutional investors were. In 2024, Ripple was ordered to pay a $125 million penalty. The case ended in August 2025 after both sides dropped their appeals. By then, XRP had spent years under a cloud of uncertainty, and that uncertainty affected exchange access, investor confidence and institutional willingness to engage.

Carding has argued that the SEC case helps explain why XRP did not revisit its 2018 high during the 2021 bull run, a period when Coinbase suspended trading. He also noted that after appeals were dropped in August 2025 with XRP above $3, the token declined about 59%, compared with 32% for bitcoin and 44% for ether. Its circulating market capitalization fell about 56%. That relative weakness after the legal overhang eased suggests that regulation was not the only factor holding XRP back.

What Traders Are Watching Next

For traders watching XRP now, relative performance may be more important than the absolute price alone. Carding has suggested monitoring XRP against bitcoin, along with net monthly distribution after re-escrow and changes in fund holdings. In plain market terms, the question is whether XRP can stop underperforming bitcoin as fewer new tokens enter circulation through Ripple’s escrow-related mechanics.

If supply growth slows and XRP still trails bitcoin, some market participants would interpret that as evidence of weaker demand rather than a simple supply problem. Conversely, stronger fund holdings, improving activity metrics and better relative performance could help rebuild confidence. The challenge is that XRP now competes in a much larger and more diversified crypto market than the one that existed in early 2018.

The story is therefore not simply that XRP failed while every other asset succeeded. Some other early 2018 top tokens remain far below their old levels, and Carding noted that, on price, six of the other nine assets in the January 2018 top ten are further below their levels from that week. Still, XRP stands out because it remains one of the world’s largest digital assets and one of the most recognized crypto brands, yet its long-term price chart has not rewarded peak-cycle holders the way bitcoin and ether have.

FXCOINZ market coverage shows that XRP’s underperformance is the product of several overlapping forces: supply expansion, comparatively muted investment product demand, softer trading and network activity, narrower exposure to hot crypto sectors, and a regulatory battle that lasted for years. None of these factors alone fully explains the token’s lag, but together they help clarify why XRP has not delivered the same wealth effect as bitcoin, ether or several other major cryptocurrencies since the 2017 cycle.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why is XRP still below its 2018 high?

XRP remains below its early January 2018 peak because of a combination of factors, including a much larger circulating supply, weaker fund inflows than bitcoin and ether, lower trading activity, reduced active addresses and the lingering impact of years of regulatory uncertainty.

What is XRP trading at now compared with its old peak?

XRP trades around $1.33, which is about 62.5% below its early January 2018 peak of $3.55. It briefly moved above that old high to $3.66 in July 2025 before falling back.

How has bitcoin performed compared with XRP?

Bitcoin is up 314% from its December 2017 peak of $19,804, while XRP is still well below its January 2018 peak. That contrast highlights how differently major crypto assets have performed across cycles.

Did XRP’s circulating supply affect its price?

Yes. XRP’s circulating supply grew 63%, from 38.7B in 2017 to 63.1B. With more tokens in circulation, each individual XRP represents a smaller share of the total circulating value, which can limit price recovery even if market capitalization improves.

How much money have XRP funds attracted?

XRP funds have attracted $1.80 billion in investor money since debuting nearly a year ago. That is far below the level of demand seen in bitcoin products, which can attract more than $1 billion in a single day.

What happened in the SEC case involving Ripple?

The SEC sued Ripple and two executives in December 2020, alleging about $1.3 billion in unregistered XRP sales. A federal judge ruled in 2023 that XRP sales on public exchanges were not securities offerings, while institutional sales were. Ripple was ordered to pay a $125 million penalty in 2024, and the case ended in August 2025 when both sides dropped appeals.

Are XRP trading and network activity improving?

Recent cited data points show weakness rather than improvement. XRP spot volume is down 53.5%, perpetual futures volume is down 44%, and active addresses are down 10.7%, suggesting softer market participation.

Is XRP the only major token below its early 2018 high?

No. Tron is also slightly below its old peak, down about 4%, and market participants note that several assets from the January 2018 top ten remain further below their levels from that week. XRP stands out because it remains one of the largest and most widely followed digital assets.

What should XRP traders watch next?

Traders are watching XRP’s performance against bitcoin, net monthly distribution after re-escrow and changes in fund holdings. If supply growth slows but XRP continues to underperform bitcoin, some chart watchers may view that as a sign of weaker demand.