XRP, the number four cryptocurrency by market cap, crashed nearly 50% in under two hours on Feb. 1 as a trading frenzy backfired on new investors.
XRP traders nurse 48% losses
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed extreme volatility set in for XRP/USD during Monday trading, hours after a now-infamous Reddit group r/Wallstreetbets opted to buy the token en masse.
After reaching highs of $0.75, losses began mounting fast, the downside accelerating until XRP bounced off lows of $0.39 — 48% beneath the top.
At the time of writing, XRP/USD traded at around $0.45, with large swings still commonplace on low timeframes. The social daily sentiment score has also reached levels not seen since January 2018, according to data from TheTie.
Responding, critics of the controversial altcoin were first to warn over what they saw as the pitfalls of investing in it over Bitcoin (BTC) for short-term trading.
“Even though the $XRP army get aggressive when you warm them about the escrow shaped elephant in the room, I still can’t help but feel sorry for those that bought at 0.75c today. X R (I)P,” regular Cointelegraph Markets’ contributor Keith Wareing summarized on Twitter.
DOGE holds ont
Previously, XRP had been on a different downtrend as a result of legal action against Ripple, the blockchain payment network which constitutes its largest investor. The rebound had delighted other fans, who had watched as the coin hit lows of under $0.16 just weeks ago.
Meanwhile, XRP was not the only target of Reddit traders on the day, with Dogecoin (DOGE) and silver seeing huge increases.
At the time of writing, DOGE/USD was holding on to its gains, which had taken it to near $0.04. A mention singling it out among other altcoins from Elon Musk in an interview late on Sunday had buoyed sentiment among fans of the meme-based altcoin.
By contrast, as Cointelegraph reported, little action was present on Bitcoin spot markets, with the closest bullish support at $34,000 yet to be realized.
