XRP investors woke up to a very different market today. In just 24 hours, the token added $8 billion to its market capitalization, climbing from $170.8 billion to $178.8 billion. XRP price followed suit, advancing nearly 3% to $2.98.
The activity beneath the headline figure is even more telling. Daily trading volume surged 21% to $6.5 billion, giving XRP one of the highest turnover rates among major-cap cryptocurrencies. With a circulating supply of 59.87 billion tokens, that level of liquidity points to decisive whale accumulation.
On-chain analyst Ali Martinez noted that whales purchased 250 million XRP in just 48 hours, reinforcing the view that institutional-sized wallets are driving the move.
Fresh catalysts are also at play. On October 1, Japan’s SBI Holdings launched an XRP institutional lending program, sparking a 164.5 million token trading volume spike, double the daily average. Meanwhile, Nasdaq-listed VivoPower announced a $19 million raise to expand its XRP treasury, adding another layer of institutional validation to the rally.
XRP’s fully diluted valuation has now approached $300 billion ($298.7B), while the number of holder addresses on the XRP legder remains steady. For an asset often cast as an afterthought next to Bitcoin and Ethereum, the capital rotation in a single trading day is anything but marginal.
Still, the path ahead hinges on critical levels and broader market dynamics. The $3 threshold remains a psychological battleground, while Bitcoin’s current 58.06% dominance poses the risk of siphoning liquidity away from altcoins. With ETF decision timelines looming, the question now is if XRP can defend the $2.93 support zone if momentum fades or regulatory delays unsettle traders.
