Ripple Charges Unstoppably Ahead – Price Now At Almost $3.50

The innovative cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) by Ripple Labs has continued soaring to new unheard-of highs, reaching the fabled $3.50 mark yesterday after a rally that started the day at around $2.20. This inexorable rise in price has seen several investors scrambling to get hold of the currency in large amounts, with a proportionate rise in the market cap of the currency, which is now well ahead of Ethereum in second place behind Bitcoin.

As far as Bitcoin goes, there seems to have been some luster knocked off this currency since the expected gains at the beginning of the year have certainly not materialized, and recent performance has been pretty muted. There has been a slight surge in the past few days, with the price briefly peaking above $16,000, but Thursday morning has seen the price retreat considerably to well below the $15,000 level and is currently trading at around $14,500 at press time. The market seems to be waiting for something to happen in this respect.

Litecoin has also shown a rapid decline in the past few hours, having reached levels of $260 over the week, although that is still some way off its high of $350 last month. Since founder Charlie Lee announced that he was selling off his Litecoin holdings, there has been little good news to support this currency, and it has shown almost constant declines. Commentary on Coinbase has stated that the support for the cryptocurrency is expected to continue falling, with pressure from other cryptos such as Ripple and Stellar Lumens taking its toll in the long run.

Other cryptocurrencies were also heavily in the red on Thursday. Dash lost well over 5% and is currently trading at levels of $1,100, flirting with the $1K mark yet again, although it does seem to be well supported at this level. Ethereum Classic is stuck at around $31 after posting a decline from the $35 levels of just a few hours ago, while Bitcoin Cash dropped substantially by about 7% to trade at between $2,300 and $2,500. The only flat mover was Ethereum, which held on to yesterday's gains and is currently trading at around $920—this currency looks to be hitting the $1,000 level pretty soon to make it the fourth currency to reach this historic point after BTC, BCH, and Dash.

The inexorable rise of Ripple

Ripple's rise means that it is now the second currency to surpass the $100 billion mark, and at press time, its valuation is $116–118 billion—a truly historic achievement. Over the past 24 hours, the price of XRP, Ripple's native token, has increased by more than 24 percent to over $3. The market valuation of Ripple increased from below $95 billion to $116 billion, further distancing itself from the third most valuable cryptocurrency in the global market, Ethereum.

As usual, the daily trading volume of XRP is heavily concentrated in the South Korean market. Korbit and Bithumb are processing 40 percent of global Ripple trades, accounting for more than $2.2 billion of Ripple's daily trading volume. On Bithumb, the second largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world based in Seoul, South Korea, Ripple remains the most traded cryptocurrency, recording a daily trading volume that is three times larger than that of Bitcoin. This is indicated in the hefty rise in price as Bitcoin continues to struggle.

XLM or Stellar Lumens has also shot meteorically up to unheard-of highs and is currently trading at $0.88. This recent surge in investor confidence propelled Stellar Lumens to a $14.966 billion market cap, pushing aside Dash, IOTA, NEM, and Litecoin to overtake the sixth spot on CoinMarketCap. Despite being the largest and most liquid Ripple exchange market, XRP is being traded with a high premium within the South Korean cryptocurrency market. On Bithumb and Korbit, Ripple is being traded at $3.5, with a 12 percent premium.

Stellar Lumens has had an incredible run over the course of the holiday season. As of today, the cryptocurrency is up roughly 1,000% from its $0.08 valuation at the beginning of December. Throughout the month, it hit record high after record high, hitting its newest peak earlier today at $0.88.