The highly-anticipated Santa Claus rally is nowhere to be seen as bitcoin continues to lose value by dropping below $94,000.
The altcoins are also mostly in the red, with XRP dumping by 6% and XLM following suit.
BTC Fails at Recovery
It hasn’t been a particularly hopeful end of 2024 on a micro-scale. The asset began its painful decline on December 17 when its price stood above $108,000. In just a matter of three days, it had lost around $16,000 and dumped to $92,000.
The bulls intercepted the move and helped prevent a further drop below $90,000. In fact, BTC started recovering some ground and spiked toward $100,000 on a couple of occasions, but to no avail. The last such example was on December 26 when BTC touched that line but was quickly rejected once again.
The subsequent decline pushed it south hard, and the asset fell to $95,000 over the weekend. However, the landscape worsened in the past 24 hours and dropped further to $93,000. Despite bouncing off that level, for now, BTC is still over 1% down on the day.
Its market capitalization has plummeted to under $1.860 trillion on CG, and its dominance over the alts stands at 54%.
XRP Keeps Bleeding
Most altcoins are in the red once again today. The trend is led by XRP, which continues its downfall and is close to breaking below $2 now. If it dumps below that level, analysts foresee another massive decline toward $1.
XLM has also dropped hard from the larger-cap alts, losing nearly 5% of value and trading well below $0.35. BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, TRX, AVAX, LINK, TON, SUI, and many others are also in the red, albeit in a less painful manner.
The total crypto market cap has lost another $60 billion since yesterday and is down to $3.430 trillion on CG.
Henrik Lindqvist is our DeFi and on-chain reporter, splitting his time between Stockholm and London. A former software engineer at Klarna, he switched to journalism in 2021 and has since broken stories on MEV exploits, restaking risks and Layer-2 economics. Henrik writes the BTCNews weekly Layer-2 newsletter and has lectured on blockchain architecture at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
XRP’s double golden cross against BTC: is $2 within reach?
XRP has formed a “double golden cross” against Bitcoin. That does not guarantee another rally. Still, it has put $2 back on traders’ radar.
The 50-period moving average moved above the 200 MA on both the 3-hour and 2-hour XRP/BTC charts. That is the usual golden cross setup. It came after XRP gained ground against Bitcoin. XRP rose against BTC for four straight days. Saturday delivered the biggest move, taking the pair to a six-month high before momentum faded. The rally also lifted XRP above its daily 50 and 200 moving averages, levels that had capped the price since January. Now the difficult part begins: holding the breakout.
My take: this is a meaningful shift, but not a victory lap. The BTC pair improved first. That matters because relative strength can expose a move that looks less convincing in dollar terms.
The move was not confined to the BTC pair. XRP’s USD chart rose for three straight days from Wednesday. The first jump came after the Treasury intervened in the bond market, which eased pressure on risk assets. Crypto often responds well when financial conditions loosen or traditional markets settle down. A large short squeeze then added more fuel. Prices can move quickly in that kind of setup, and XRP did.
Most guides say a breakout plus easier conditions is automatically bullish. That’s only half right. A short squeeze can make the chart look healthier than the underlying demand really is.
Charts and macro conditions do not tell the whole story. Regulation and real-world use matter as well. Sentiment improved on Thursday after the White House and crypto industry leaders made a last-minute push to advance the Clarity Act in the coming weeks. XRP has faced regulatory scrutiny for years, so even the possibility of clearer rules can change how investors value the token.
Why does this matter? Because regulatory uncertainty has been part of XRP’s valuation story for years. Remove even some of that uncertainty, and traders may price the token differently. Counter to the usual advice, clearer rules do not guarantee a straight-line rally.
XRP spot ETFs also had their biggest day this week. The record came alongside the quarter’s busiest on-chain trading day so far, according to SoSoValue data. ETF demand does not prove that a lasting trend has started, but it does point to rising access and interest. Ripple is backing a new institutional credit fund too. The fund will lend RLUSD to fintech and payments companies on the XRP Ledger through lending platform Clearpool and credit manager Cicada Partners. On paper, that gives activity on the ledger a more practical use.
I’ll be honest: the institutional angle is interesting, but “practical use” is still a claim about direction, not proof of scale. The fund has a stated structure. The market still needs evidence that activity follows.
On Saturday, XRP posted one of its biggest one-day rallies of the summer. The price jumped nearly 27%, from $1.34 to $1.699, then gave back part of the move. At the time of writing, XRP was up 4.45% over 24 hours at $1.43. It was up 45% for the week. A return to Saturday’s high is the next obvious test.
That is the test. Not the headline.
What this means
The double golden cross on the XRP/BTC chart, along with XRP’s rise against the dollar, suggests that buyers have taken control for now.
This could be the beginning of a longer uptrend if the broader crypto market keeps moving higher. Easier financial conditions, possible progress on the Clarity Act, and stronger ETF activity all support the bullish argument. XRP still has to clear $1.70, though. That is the immediate obstacle. If buyers break through it and hold the level, $2 becomes the next clear target.
Yes, this sounds cautious after the bullish setup. Bear with me. A 27% daily jump can attract momentum traders while also giving early buyers a reason to sell.
In the short term, traders will likely focus on $1.70. A sustained move above it would strengthen the bullish setup and give XRP room to test $2. The Clarity Act could also bring sharp price swings in the weeks ahead. ETF flows and on-chain volume should show whether institutional interest is building or whether this move was mostly a short squeeze.
Is this overkill? For a move from $1.43 toward $2, no. The level needs confirmation.
My read is simple: the chart looks better, but the breakout still needs to prove itself. XRP has the setup. The result is still unknown. Reaching $2, and staying above it, will depend on buyers defending the next move instead of heading for the exit.
Sophie Berger covers EU regulation and policy from Brussels. With a Master's in European Affairs from Sciences Po and five years at Politico Europe, she tracks MiCA implementation, ECB digital-euro work and ESMA enforcement. Sophie is fluent in French, German and English, and has interviewed three EU commissioners on record. Her policy briefs are read across the BTCNews newsroom every morning.
