The past 24 hours have offered a new doze of volatility for the cryptocurrency market, this time negatively affecting the bulls. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, briefly plummeted below $85,500. 

The situation with the alternative coins is no better, with some of the leading ones charting more substantial losses than the primary cryptocurrency. 

BTC Enters Red Territory Again

Somewhat expectedly, the highly anticipated crypto summit held at the White House on March 7 caused turbulence in the digital asset market. While some speculated that the event would trigger a price rally for Bitcoin (BTC), the asset showed its unpredictable nature again. 

US President Donald Trump hosted the gathering with a handful of well-known crypto executives and relevant members of his administration. He doubled down on his promise to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and assured that America would follow a “never sell your BTC” plan. 

The event proved that Trump’s administration will take the crypto industry seriously. But despite the positive comments, the leading digital asset tanked to $85,300 hours after the summit. It is worth mentioning that some market observers previously warned that the gathering may have a “sell the news” effect.

In the following hours, BTC slightly rebounded to the current $86,100 (per CoinGecko’s data), representing a 2.5% decline on a daily scale.

The asset’s market capitalization has dropped to roughly $1.7 trillion, while its dominance against the altcoins is around 58.2%.

The Alts Suffer, too

Many of the leading altcoins have performed even worse than BTC. Ripple (XRP) has fallen by 5.5% to $2.35, Cardano has slipped by 6% to $0.81, whereas Chainlink (LINK) is down 9%. 

Other cryptocurrencies witnessing painful losses include Hedera (HBAR), Sui (SUI), Stellar (XLM), and many more. On the other hand, TRON (TRX), Pi Network (PI), and Litecoin (LTC) are among the very few charting some gains. 

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization currently stands at roughly $2.93 trillion, representing a 4% decrease for the day.

TL;DR

• XRP shows strong weekly performance, with analysts predicting further gains due to key breakouts and bullish indicators.

• Contrary to the optimism, traders are advised to be cautious as XRP’s open interest has surged lately.

Time for a New Rally?

Despite witnessing a substantial downtrend in the past 24 hours, the price of XRP is well on the green on a weekly scale. Currently, it trades at approximately $2.35, and many market observers suggest it could reach fresh peaks in the near future.

The X user Dark Defender recently outlined three important reasons why Ripple’s native token remains in a bullish mode. The analyst claimed that the asset successfully broke the multi-year resistance line in November 2024 and tested previous resistance as support. Additionally, they assumed that XRP’s indicators signal a potential surge. 

“I’ve never seen XRP bullish more than this before,” Dark Defender stated. 

The trader, using the X moniker CRYPTOWZRD, also chipped in. They maintained that in the past 24 hours, XRP followed BTC and closed bearish. “However, I expect to see further upside pressure and higher volatility during the weekend from XRP led by XRP/BTC,” they added.

Other analysts giving their two cents on the matter over the last few days include JAVON MARKS and EGRAG CRYPTO. The former claimed that the pattern XRP broke out of in November 2024 resembles that of 2017. As such, they expect a bull run “greater than many think or even imagine to possible.”

EGRAG CRYPTO made a truly shocking prediction. The analyst suggested that XRP could be gearing up for its next “big leap” due to several factors, such as a retest of “the bull market support band” and a “noise consolidation” at the $2-$3.40 range. The market observer thinks that if history repeats, this could result in a price explosion in the $27-$222 range.

Reaching such high levels would require XRP’s market cap to explode to at least $1.5 trillion. With the asset’s current capitalization under $140 billion, this prediction seems unlikely.

Investors Should be Cautious

Despite the overall bullish forecasts from numerous industry participants, traders should tread carefully when entering XRP’s ecosystem since the price can swing significantly in any direction. One factor doubling down on that assumption is the coin’s open interest, which has been on the rise lately. 

“The rise in XRP’s price is being driven by leveraged positions, signaling increased risk in the market. This could eventually present a good shorting opportunity, provided it’s carefully managed. XRP price action can be wild. Make sure to manage your risk,” analytics firm CryptoQuant alerted. 

US President Donald J. Trump made good on one of his pro-crypto promises and signed an executive order that will make it mandatory for the country to at least maintain its BTC stash. Yet, bitcoin prices are yet to feel the actual impact.

But before going into details on that order signed on Thursday, let’s go back to the developments that unfolded during the weekend. After a calm few days following BTC’s latest rollercoaster, the asset had remained at around $85,000 before, on Sunday evening, Trump posted on his social media that there are indeed plans to establish a US-based crypto reserve that will hold some altcoins and bitcoin.

Prices exploded within minutes. BTC skyrocketed from its aforementioned level by ten grand and tapped a multi-day peak of $95,000. However, that turned out to be a fakeout as some analysts warned and the cryptocurrency dumped by $13,000 in the next 36 hours to under $82,000 on Tuesday.

Its correction didn’t continue in the following days. Just the opposite, bitcoin started to recover some ground and knocked on the $90,000 door on a couple of occasions but to no avail.

The first rejection came on Thursday, but the second big one on Friday morning pushed BTC south hard to $85,000 once again. Interestingly, this one came just minutes after Trump signed the executive order to halt the sales of bitcoin from the US government, which owns close to 190,000 BTC (valued at over $17 billion).

This classic sell-the-news event sent bitcoin south, but the asset jumped to $91,000 just a few hours ago. However, another rejection arrived at this point, and BTC now struggles beneath $90,000. The day is far from over, though, given the upcoming crypto summit to be held at the White House. Consequently, more volatility is expected.

The weekly landscape is quite positive for BTC and many altcoins, but that’s mostly because the entire market plummeted last Friday once again. On a monthly scale, the situation is different, with most assets deep in the red.

Market Data

Market Cap: $3T | 24H Vol: $150B | BTC Dominance: 58.3%

BTC: $88,090 (+7.4%) | ETH: $2,194 (+1.1%) | XRP: $2.49 (+18.4%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Ethereum Sentiment Hits Yearly Lows: Is This the Ultimate Contrarian Play? The second-largest cryptocurrency continues to underperform and was close to breaking below $2,000 earlier this week. Naturally, the sentiment toward ETH has gone south hard, but could this actually be a blessing in disguise?

Declining Dollar Index Could be a Tailwind For Crypto: Analysts. The greenback has lost a big portion of its value compared to other currencies. Moreover, analysts claim that Trump plans to devalue it further. Interestingly, a weak dollar could mean higher prices for bitcoin and altcoins, and here’s why.

Bukele Defies IMF, Reaffirms Bitcoin Commitment Despite Loan Restrictions. El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele got a loan deal from the IMF several months ago, and parts of that agreement mandated that the country reduce its Bitcoin involvement. However, Bukele refused to stop the BTC investments and outlined a bullish perspective earlier this week.

XRP, SOL, and ADA Inclusion in US Crypto Reserve Pushes Traders on Edge. As mentioned above, Trump named several altcoins that could potentially be included in the US strategic crypto reserve. Expectedly, their prices soared by double-digits immediately after the Sunday post, which led to a large number of liquidated traders on both sides, given the fact that these alts retraced hard just a day later.

Why Arthur Hayes Is Bullish on Bitcoin Under Trump’s Economic Strategy. The BitMEX co-founder has been a vocal critic of the Bitcoin reserve in the States. He believes it will ultimately serve the purpose of whoever is in charge, disregarding the entire crypto market. In a more recent post, though, Hayes stated that the Trump administration’s actions will be bullish for BTC.

Bybit Hacker Reportedly Launders Entire $1.4B Loot in Just 10 Days. The Bybit hacker, largely believed to be the North Korea-backed Lazarus Group, needed less than two weeks to launder the entire stolen amount, which was worth around $1.4 billion at the time of the incident.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Solana – click here for the complete price analysis.