Ripple (XRP) and Stellar (XLM) Are Trailing Bitcoin This Month. Which Catches Up First?

Quick Read

• Bitcoin gained 8% in 30 days while XRP rose just 1.3% and Stellar 1.8%, leaving both payment coins trailing the market leader.

• XRP holds an edge with $1.51 billion in ETF assets and was the only major-coin ETF group to record inflows on October 14.

• Stellar dropped 15.9% in 14 days versus XRP’s 10.5% decline and sits 79% below its all-time high compared to XRP’s 63% gap.

• Finally! You can open a SoFi Crypto account and access 25 plus cryptocurrencies without juggling apps or logins.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) climbed by 8.4% over the 30 days leading up to October 15, 2026. In contrast, the two prominent payment cryptocurrencies, XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) and Stellar (CRYPTO:XLM), posted modest gains, with XRP up 1.3% and Stellar 1.8%. This raises the XRP vs. Stellar question of which coin might catch up to Bitcoin first.

Both XRP and Stellar rallied in September but later gave back those gains. XRP reached a high of $1.66 on September 23, while Stellar closed at $0.23 on September 28. Since then, both coins have experienced a gradual decline throughout October. With Bitcoin leading the way, it’s worth exploring which of these payment coins might close the distance first.

XRP Is 63% Below Its All-Time High, While Stellar Is 79% Below

Currently, XRP trades at $1.34, 63.2% below its all-time high of $3.65, reached in July 2025. In comparison, Bitcoin trades at 34.7% below its peak from October 2025, indicating that Bitcoin has managed to retain more of its gains from the last market cycle.

Stellar, on the other hand, trades at $0.18, about 78.9% below its record high of $0.88 set in January 2018. Stellar has not returned to that 2018 high in this market cycle, and many XRP holders who bought in at the January 2018 peak know the feeling.

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However, over a longer timeframe, XRP shows more strength. Over the past 60 days, XRP has appreciated 34.2%, compared with Bitcoin’s 29.9% gain. Stellar, in contrast, increased by only 17%. Thus, XRP has outperformed Bitcoin over this two-month period, while Stellar has lagged behind.

XRP Benefits From ETF Investors While Stellar Lacks Similar Support

Jed McCaleb, a co-founder of both Ripple (the company behind XRP) and Stellar, initially launched these networks to provide fast and inexpensive cross-border payment solutions. However, XRP currently has an investment advantage that Stellar can’t match.

US spot XRP ETFs, which directly hold the coin and trade via brokerage accounts, reported net assets totaling $1.51 billion. On October 14, these funds saw inflows of $740,414, marking the only inflow among the four major-coin ETF groups that day. Although modest, the inflow came after three consecutive days with no flows.