XRP Jumps 17%, Outperforms Rest of the Market as Rally Cools; Trader Thinks $120K Bitcoin Target Still in Play

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XRP zoomed 17% in the past 24 hours to beat gains in bitcoin {{BTC}] and majors, as shifting U.S. regulatory climate supported growth in tokens previously hampered by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) actions.
XRP traded above 82 cents in early Asian trading hours Friday, extending 7-day gains to 50% as it reached levels last seen in June 2023. The jump came as 18 U.S. states filed to sue the
SEC and commissioners, including chairman Gary Gensler, accusing them of unconstitutional overreach of the crypto industry.
The speculative optimism among traders is that a crypto-friendly Trump administration could benefit tokens linked to U.S.-based companies, such as Ripple Labs (related to XRP) and Uniswap (UNI), as the firms are more involved in boosting value for token holders.
Meanwhile, BTC and majors slid as much as 4% amid profit-taking in late U.S. hours Thursday, an expected market reaction following several days of growth.
The drop was catalyzed as Fed chair Jerome Powell delivered hawkish comments in his latest speech, dampening hopes of swifter rate cuts. “The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” said Powell in prepared remarks at a Dallas conference. “The strength we are currently seeing in the economy gives us the ability to approach our decisions carefully.”
As of Friday, the market is pricing in a 66% chance of a 25 basis point cut in the upcoming December FOMC meeting, down from Thursday’s 83%.
BTC fell to $88,000 from a peak of $93,000 on Thursday, with the drop causing over $120 million in liquidations on both bullish and bearish bets. Ether (ETH) and Solana’s SOL fell 3.5%, while dog-themed dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) lost as much as 5%.
The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index tracking the largest tokens by market capitalization, was little changed.
New top-20 token pepe (PEPE) corrected 8% after a 75% surge on Thursday following a Coinbase listing that briefly put the frog-themed meme at a $10 billion market capitalization for the first time.
Bullish sentiment for bitcoin and the broader market remains unchanged, however.
“In view of bitcoin’s impressive rally since the US election, our view is that $100,000 – $120,000 may not be too far off,” traders at QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast. “We believe that the underlying strength in BTC represents a systematic shift in the market in anticipation of Trump’s return to office”
“His (Trump’s) idea of launching a strategic BTC reserve and rotation from Gold to BTC, provides a strong narrative that supports BTC prices,” QCP added.
Edited by Parikshit Mishra.
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Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.