Ethereum Surges, Regains No. 2 Spot From Ripple, $3 Billion Gap

For the first time since December 2017, XRP, the native cryptocurrency of Ripple, overtook Ethereum on Sept. 21.

However, the so-called “flippening” for XRP did not last long, as Ethereum (ETH) recorded a 17 percent increase in price and added $3 billion to its market cap.

Ripple just flippened Ethereum for the first time since December 2017.

Absolutely insane market pic.twitter.com/YZZWgfDtoP

— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) September 21, 2018

The sudden increase in the price of ETH allowed Ethereum to overtake Ripple and secure the No. 2 spot in the global cryptocurrency rankings.

The Trend of Ethereum vs. Ripple and Bitcoin Cash

In December 2017, Ripple overtook Ethereum both when the price of XRP initially increased to $1.50 as well as when it peaked at $3.

Even when XRP was at its peak, Ripple’s flippening moment did not last, as Ethereum eventually regained momentum and added billions of dollars to its market valuation.

A similar trend occurred when Bitcoin Cash (BCH) overtook ETH after reaching $5,500. At the time, in November 2017, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin said:

Congrats on this. Seriously. @rogerkver @JihanWu @deadalnix pic.twitter.com/UXYdEcRn4y

— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) November 12, 2017

Eventually, within weeks, Ethereum found its way to the No. 2 spot in global rankings, maintaining its position in the cryptocurrency market as the second most dominant and valuable asset.

In the past several hours–despite the strong momentum Ripple demonstrated after recording a 110 percent increase in value this week–Ethereum rebounded and added $3 billion to its market cap.

Ripple flippened Ethereum. Investors in ETH couldn’t stand it. So they took the matter into their own hands.

Ethereum up 17%

What is this sorcery? pic.twitter.com/AM3J9ZJcqv

— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) September 21, 2018

The primary factor in Ripple’s price increase was quite clear; due to massively oversold conditions, a spike in volume led investors to engage in FOMO (fear of missing out), creating a domino effect across major exchanges.

As CryptoSlate reported yesterday, it is possible to argue that the abrupt increase in XRP’s value was caused by Ripple’s announcement to release a cryptocurrency product in October, but due to the lack of information on the scheduled product launch, it remains unclear what sort of impact the product launch will have on the market.

As such, wholly attributing the price trend of XRP to the scheduled announcement of Ripple is weak and supporting the movement of XRP with technical indicators and evidence is far stronger.

However, the same argument can be attributed to ETH for one main reason: Both XRP and ETH experienced a massive sell-off between June and August. Both cryptocurrencies suffered 40 to 50 percent losses against the U.S. dollar, while Bitcoin only lost 9 percent.

If XRP initiated a short-term corrective rally and then a proper movement on the upside afterward, it was only a matter of time for ETH to follow and initiate a similar movement, which it did.

In a sense, Ethereum recovering and adding billions to its market cap exactly when Ripple flippened was expected, and most traders expressed their skepticism about the event. As impressive the XRP rally was, it was not enough to replace Ethereum as the second most valuable cryptocurrency in a seven-day period.

XRP needed breathing room to avoid a significant short-term fall as a result of oversold conditions. In the short-term, it is unlikely to see XRP flippen Ethereum again.

Where The Market Goes Next

Brazil’s largest independent brokerage, meanwhile stated today that it would launch a Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange to process trades on behalf of its customers.

The announcement of Grupo XP, owner of XP Investimentos SA, will expose the crypto market to 3 million Brazilian investors. While CEO Guilherme Benchimol admitted that he is not personally a fan of the crypto market, he said that the demand is simply too strong to ignore:

“I must confess, this is a theme I’d rather didn’t exist, but it does. We felt obligated to start advancing in this market.”

Grupo XP’s decision to integrate crypto at this particular juncture is significant, as the Brazilian government asked banks not to deal with crypto businesses. With positive regulation-related progress happening in developing crypto markets, it can be said that the short-term rally of the market will be well supported by the rapidly maturing infrastructure of international markets.