XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency, has seen its impressive five-fold price rally over the past month falter, declining for two consecutive days. This coincides with broader market volatility triggered by political events in South Korea, where the president briefly enacted martial law earlier this week. While Bitcoin and Ether have largely recovered, and BNB reached a new all-time high, XRP remains in the red, down 8% on Wednesday and 18% on Tuesday.
The connection between South Korea’s political situation and XRP’s price dip isn’t entirely clear. Mena Theodorou, co-founder of crypto exchange Coinstash, told, “It’s probably not a coincidence that XRP dipped slightly over this period. It’s yet to be seen whether we will see more of a pullback or if the uptrend continues.”
South Korea plays a significant role in the XRP market. Earlier this week, XRP trading volume in the country surpassed the total trading volume of the Kospi stock market, reaching over $6 billion compared to the Kospi’s $5.3 billion. Upbit, one of South Korea’s “big four” crypto exchanges, saw $4.8 billion in XRP trading volume in the past 24 hours, exceeding the combined volume of Binance and Coinbase. These four exchanges account for over a quarter of global XRP trading volume on centralized exchanges.
XRP’s popularity in South Korea is driven by several factors, including regulations from 2018 that restrict foreign access to Korean exchanges. However, South Korean traders aren’t the sole drivers of XRP’s price. Recent retail activity on Coinbase created a price premium compared to Asian exchanges, and Robinhood’s relisting of XRP last month also contributed to a price surge.
Despite these factors, market attention appears to be shifting. Crypto research firm 10x Research noted that the market is “experiencing wild swings” as traders rotate into other altcoins anticipated for price increases. “After the Ripple XRP surge, the market rotation shows no signs of slowing down,” they observed.
Tron’s TRX token exemplifies this rotation, surging 61% in the last 24 hours and nearing Lido’s staked Ether as the 10th largest cryptocurrency. TRX reached a new all-time high of 45 US cents, surpassing its previous record from January 2018. Tron founder Justin Sun celebrated the milestone, stating, “Things have changed, but one thing hasn’t; Tron remains a top 10 contender.”
