XRP Rises 3% Amid SEC Legal Hopes, Bitcoin Dominance Hits 62.5%

The cryptocurrency market has shown signs of stabilization, but traders are exercising caution, particularly with altcoins like XRP. There is a noticeable trend of rotating funds into Bitcoin (BTC), the market leader. XRP, which is used by Ripple for cross-border payments, has seen a 3% increase to $2.24 in the past 24 hours. This rise is primarily driven by hopes that the legal battle between Ripple and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could conclude soon.

Despite the price increase, the market sentiment for XRP remains bearish. The cumulative open interest in perpetual futures listed across major exchanges has stabilized near 1.35 billion XRP. Annualized funding rates and cumulative volume delta are both negative, indicating that shorts are paying fees to maintain their bearish positions. This dominance of short positions suggests a bearish trend, as selling volume has accumulated more than buying volume. Other large-cap tokens like DOGE, SOL, SUI, HBAR, LTC, BTC, TRX, and HYPE also show negative cumulative volume deltas on a 24-hour basis, further supporting the bearish outlook.

DOGE is facing a significant technical indicator known as the death cross, where the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) is about to cross below the 200-day SMA. This pattern suggests that the short-term price momentum is underperforming the long-term momentum, potentially leading to a major bearish trend. While this indicator is widely followed by trend traders, it is a lagging indicator and has a mixed record of predicting price moves in the BTC and ETH markets. DOGE has already dropped 65% since peaking at over 48 cents in December.

Bitcoin's dominance rate, which measures its share of the total market capitalization, has increased to 62.5%, the highest since March 2021. This metric has risen from 55% to over 62% since the total crypto market capitalization peaked above $3.6 trillion in December. The increase in BTC's dominance rate signifies a continued preference for Bitcoin, especially during broader market downturns. This trend reflects investors' cautious approach, favoring the relative stability and market leadership of Bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies.