XRP Reclaims $3.40 All-Time High, Market Cap Briefly Tops $200 Billion

XRP Leads Altcoin Charge

XRP’s meteoric rise continues to capture market attention, as the digital asset—now ranked third by market capitalization—soared by more than 10% within just 24 hours to $3.40 on July 17. The price matched XRP’s all-time high set in 2018. This rally not only shattered previous price ceilings but also briefly propelled XRP’s market cap past the $200 billion mark for the first time in years, reaffirming its dominant position in the crypto landscape.

While XRP’s strong performance pushed its year-to-date (YTD) gains above 60%, a broader look at the asset’s performance over the past 12 months reveals an even more impressive trajectory—a staggering surge of over 430%. This remarkable upswing underscores XRP’s sustained momentum and investor confidence, cementing its resurgence as one of the standout performers in the current altcoin rally.

Meanwhile, several leading altcoins, including Ethereum ( ETH), which initially seemed to ignite the altcoin season, along with BNB, Solana ( SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE), also registered significant 24-hour gains. As of the latest update (July 17, 2:30 p.m. EST) ADA and HBAR stood out as the only other top 20 digital assets boasting 24-hour gains surpassing 5%. Nevertheless, it’s noteworthy that a significant majority of the top 20 cryptocurrencies experienced impressive double-digit gains over seven days, highlighting a broader trend of recovery and growth within the altcoin market.

XRP’s double-digit surge on July 17 triggered a wave of liquidations that totaled approximately $6.93 million in just one hour, according to Coinglass data. Notably, short positions made up over 99% of those liquidations, underscoring the scale of misplaced bets against the rally. Even more telling, XRP’s one-hour liquidations of $6.17 million eclipsed both ETH and BTC liquidations within the same period.

However, 24-hour data shows that ETH experienced the highest total liquidations at approximately $168.21 million ($73.48 million Long and $94.73 million Short). BTC followed with roughly $61.57 million in total liquidations ($29.43 million long and $32.14 million short). XRP recorded approximately $47.68 million in total liquidations ($15.35 million long and $32.33 million short).

For both ETH and XRP, short liquidations significantly outweighed long liquidations. ETH saw $94.73 million in short liquidations compared to $73.48 million in long liquidations. XRP’s short liquidations amounted to $32.33 million, nearly double its long liquidations of $15.35 million. In contrast, bitcoin’s liquidations were more balanced, with slightly more shorts ($32.14 million) than longs ($29.43 million).