XRP has continued to trade well below its 2018 all-time high even as Bitcoin and Ethereum advance, and analysts argue that a combination of rising supply, subdued demand, and Ripple’s strategic focus is behind the token’s underperformance.
Market analyst Omkar Godbole noted that XRP was trading around $1.33, or about 62.5% below its January 2018 peak of $3.55. During the same period, Bitcoin climbed by roughly 314%, Ethereum by 66%, and BNB — which has a comparable market capitalization — by around 2,800%.
One key factor cited is the expansion of XRP’s circulating supply. Nicolai Sondergaard, senior research analyst at Nansen, said the supply grew from 38.7 billion in 2017 to 63.1 billion, an increase of about 63%. Despite that expansion, XRP’s total market capitalization fell only about 3%, meaning the value represented by each token was diluted. Oliver Carding, marketing director at Tesseract Group, added that rising circulating supply can reduce the value a token represents even when overall market capitalization remains similar.
Demand-side pressures are also visible. Paul Howard, senior director at market maker Wincent, said XRP investment funds have attracted approximately $1.8 billion in inflows, far below the levels seen in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs over the same period. Howard also pointed to Ripple’s business strategy, which remains focused on cross-border money transfers and payment infrastructure rather than sectors attracting more investor attention such as DeFi and artificial intelligence.
Nansen data further showed that XRP spot trading volume declined by 53.5%, perpetual futures volume by 44%, and the number of active addresses by 10.7%, reinforcing the picture of weakening engagement relative to larger digital assets.
