XRP on the brink of a golden cross as focus switches to altcoins

Payments-focused cryptocurrency XRP (XRP) is on the verge of flashing a major bullish signal as Bitcoin’s share of the crypto market drops and traders look to alternative coins.

That signal is the golden cross, and it could soon appear on XRP’s price charts.

A golden cross is confirmed when an asset’s 50-day moving average crosses above its 200-day average. It is widely viewed by chart analysts as a bullish long-term signal. The pattern has often delivered on that promise across many markets, including bitcoin, which recently confirmed its own golden cross.

So, in theory, XRP’s impending golden cross points to the potential for solid price gains. History, however, suggests caution. For XRP in particular, the golden cross has not been a reliable long-term predictor of sustained upside.

In fact, none of the 16 previous golden crosses lasted even 12 months and were quickly terminated by a death cross which, as the name suggests, is something of an alternative, bearish arrangement of moving averages.

That said, many of those golden crosses did produce impressive three-month gains (check Today’s Signal). Five of the 10 crosses that survived long enough to reach the three-month mark posted gains ranging from 85% to more than 1,000%, including a 1,009.6% run following the April 2017 cross and a 135% gain after the February 2021 cross.

Right now, XRP's 50-day average sits about 2% below its 200-day average, the closest since its last golden cross in August 2024.

Meanwhile, analysts are optimistic about Bitcoin’s price prospects, given the cryptocurrency has weathered this week’s storm, marked by the Clarity Act setback and a Federal Reserve rate increase. The cryptocurrency is trading near $78,000, roughly unchanged from a week ago.

But its dominance rate, or share of total crypto market cap, has dropped to a one-month low of under 59%. That implies a rotation into altcoins and many of them, such as UNI, NEAR and ARB have surged by nearly 30% in 24 hours.

“Altcoins have accelerated sharply while the majors lag. Markets hope for SEC and CFTC crypto adoption, plus passage of the Bitcoin Reserve Bill,” Alex Kuptsikevich, the chief market analyst at The FxPro, said in an email.

“It appears that traders are cautiously shifting their focus towards altcoins, although neither the altcoin season index nor market sentiment has yet reached high levels,” he said.