The price of Ripple (XRP), the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, fell for the second day in a row, sapping the momentum of its impressive five-fold rise in the past month.
Analysts Say XRP Rally Loss of Momentum May Be Due to South Korea Incidents
The decline comes amid a broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market, exacerbated by political unrest in South Korea, where President Yoon Suk-yeol’s recent declaration of martial law has caused significant market turmoil. XRP fell 18% on Tuesday and another 8% today.
While major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have largely recovered and Binance Coin (BNB) has hit a new all-time high, XRP remains in the red and is struggling to regain its momentum.
XRP trading activity in South Korea has been on a spectacular run this week, outpacing the country’s exchange volume. On Monday, XRP trading volume on South Korea’s Upbit exchange alone reached $4.8 billion, more than the combined XRP trading volumes on Binance and Coinbase, according to CoinGecko data.
South Korea is a key market for XRP, accounting for more than a quarter of global trading volume on centralized exchanges in the past 24 hours. Crypto regulations that limit foreign access to South Korean exchanges have made domestic traders the driving force behind this activity.
However, analysts remain uncertain about the extent of the impact of political unrest in South Korea on the price of XRP. “It’s probably not a coincidence that XRP has fallen a little bit during this period,” said Mena Theodorou, co-founder of crypto exchange Coinstash. “Whether we will see a further pullback or whether the uptrend will continue remains to be seen.”
Beyond South Korea’s impact, the XRP price drop could also reflect a broader altcoin market rotation. Crypto research firm 10x Research noted that investor attention has shifted to other tokens, with Tron’s TRX emerging as the standout performer.
TRX has surged an impressive 61% in the last 24 hours, reaching a new all-time high of $0.45.
