XRP Bears Hold Firm as Ripple’s Legal Battle Unfolds, DOGE on the Brink of Death Cross While Bitcoin Dominance Surges

XRP Bearish Pressure Remains Despite Ripple Legal Optimism, DOGE Nears Death Cross as Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Hits 4-Year Peak

The cryptocurrency market has steadied, but traders remain cautious with altcoins like XRP, opting instead to move capital toward Bitcoin (BTC), which continues to assert its dominance.

XRP, the payments-focused cryptocurrency used by Ripple for global transactions, climbed over 3% in the past 24 hours to reach $2.24. The surge is largely driven by speculation that Ripple’s prolonged legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may soon come to a conclusion.

However, derivatives market data suggests that traders remain skeptical about XRP’s ability to sustain its gains. Open interest in perpetual futures across major exchanges has held steady around 1.35 billion XRP, while annualized funding rates and cumulative volume delta (CVD) remain in negative territory, according to analytics firm Velo.

A negative funding rate indicates that short sellers are paying a premium to hold their bearish positions, reflecting a prevailing downtrend. Additionally, the negative CVD suggests that overall selling pressure is exceeding buying demand, hinting at potential weakness in the recent price uptick.

Given these factors, concerns remain about whether XRP’s rally has strong fundamentals behind it. At the time of writing, other major altcoins such as DOGE, SOL, SUI, HBAR, LTC, BTC, TRX, and HYPE also exhibited negative CVDs over the last 24 hours.

DOGE Approaching a Death Cross, Signaling Potential Weakness

Dogecoin (DOGE) is close to confirming a bearish “death cross” pattern, where its 50-day simple moving average (SMA) is on the verge of crossing below its 200-day SMA. This formation is widely viewed as a sign of waning short-term momentum, potentially leading to an extended downtrend.

Technical traders often monitor these SMA crossovers closely, and once a death cross is confirmed, it could invite additional selling pressure. That said, moving average crossovers are lagging indicators, meaning they primarily reflect past price action rather than provide a definitive forecast of future movements.

DOGE has already fallen 65% from its December high of over $0.48, underscoring the bearish sentiment surrounding the meme coin.

Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Surges to 62.5%

Bitcoin’s dominance rate, which measures its share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, has risen to 62.5%, its highest level since March 2021, according to data from TradingView.

Since the broader crypto market peaked above $3.6 trillion in December, BTC’s dominance has climbed from 55% to over 62%, reflecting a shift toward Bitcoin as investors seek stability amid an uncertain altcoin landscape.

This trend highlights Bitcoin’s growing appeal as the preferred asset in the crypto space, especially during times of market turbulence, as traders move away from riskier altcoins.