If you’ve been holding your bags of XRP since the 2017 hype cycle, real talk: the vibes are currently off. While Bitcoin and other major players have long since cleared their previous peak prices, XRP is still struggling to maintain its momentum. As of today, XRP is trading around $1.33, which is about 62.5% below its early 2018 high of $3.55.
Why is XRP lagging?
The main issue is simple math: supply. According to Nicolai Sondergaard, a senior research analyst at Nansen, the circulating supply of XRP has ballooned by 63% since 2017, going from 38.7 billion to 63.1 billion tokens. Even though the total market value of the asset hasn't changed much, there are simply way more tokens to go around, which dilutes the price per coin. Oliver Carding, head of marketing at Tesseract Group, notes that if you measure by total market cap rather than individual token price, the performance looks a bit better—but it’s still not hitting the moon.
Then there’s the institutional side. While Bitcoin and Ether ETFs are pulling in billions, XRP funds are lowkey underperforming. Data from SoSoValue shows that XRP funds have only managed to attract $1.8 billion since launching nearly a year ago. Trading activity is also down significantly, with spot and futures volumes taking a hit.
The ripple effect
Ripple, the company tied to the token, has been heads-down building cross-border payment infrastructure and products like RLUSD, but they’ve missed out on the explosive growth seen in DeFi, AI, and memecoin sectors. Paul Howard, a senior director at Wincent, points out that while others were chasing new narratives, Ripple was focused on the ledger’s utility.
Finally, we can’t ignore the legal drama. The SEC’s long-running lawsuit—which started in 2020 and finally wrapped up in August 2025—kept investors on edge for years. That uncertainty caused major exchanges like Coinbase to pause trading, which definitely didn't help XRP’s price action during the 2021 bull market.
Why it matters
Carding is now watching the ratio of XRP to Bitcoin to see if demand is actually drying up. If supply distribution slows down but the price still lags behind Bitcoin, it’s a sign that the market just isn't showing the same love for XRP as it once did. Remember, this is just market analysis—nothing here is financial advice. Always do your own research before aping into any position.
