XRP and Solana Surge with Double Bitcoin’s Volatility in 2025 - Here’s What It Means for Your Portfolio

Forget stablecoins—this year's crypto rollercoaster belongs to the alts. While Bitcoin played the reserved store-of-value, XRP and Solana decided to trade adrenaline for returns, clocking volatility at nearly double the flagship crypto's pace.

The Volatility Premium

Numbers don't lie: that 'nearly double' figure tells a story of two markets. One, a maturing asset class finding its footing; the other, a high-stakes arena where protocols battle for dominance—and investor patience gets tested daily.

Why Traders Can't Look Away

High volatility cuts both ways—liquidity floods in, price discovery accelerates, and every dip gets bought while every rally gets scrutinized. It's the kind of market that bypasses cautious allocation models and goes straight for the jugular of portfolio metrics.

The Institutional Whisper

Watch the derivatives flow. When volatility spikes, so does sophisticated money—hedge funds licking their chops at the spread, family offices recalibrating risk models, and that one crypto VC still trying to explain paper losses as 'strategic positioning.'

So here's the cynical truth: in traditional finance, they'd call this reckless. In crypto? We call it Tuesday. Whether this volatility signals impending breakouts or just professional traders making rent, one thing's clear—the altcoin game isn't for the faint of heart. Buckle up or step aside.

Altcoins need deeper liquidity to achieve stability

So far, billions have been pumped into SOL and XRP ETFs and CME futures, from which these major cryptocurrencies benefit in terms of liquidity. Except for BNB, other major altcoins, including XRP, SOL, and ETH, have established ETFs with billions in net assets.

For instance, the XRP ETF has received a net inflow of approximately $1.16 billion since its launch, while the SOL ETF has attracted roughly $763 million, based on data provided by SoSoValue.

If demand remains strong across altcoins in 2026, XRP, SOL, and ETH, alongside other altcoins, could help mitigate current price volatility and achieve the stability exhibited by BTC.

The current volatility exhibited by altcoins suggests a persistent difficulty for these tokens in achieving stability. The trend in BTC volatility, especially after the launch of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, has been declining, underscoring the need for deeper liquidity in altcoins too. These suggest that alternative investment vehicles tied to XRP, SOL, and other altcoins may provide deeper liquidity, enabling the stability achieved in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin ETFs were introduced in January 2024, attracting multiple ETPs, including IBIT, which has attracted the majority of investor money, amassing $62.19 billion since its launch. GBTC, on the other hand, has recorded a negative flow, seeing approximately $25 billion withdrawn since its launch.

BTC ETFs so far have a cumulative total net inflow of $56.96 billion, according to SoSoValue. The surge in inflows has prompted several products, including covered calls on those ETFs. The strong demand has led to a steady decline in volatility in BTC this year.

Meanwhile, ethereum ETFs, which launched in mid-2024, have exhibited a similar trend, attracting approximately $12.4 billion of investor capital since their launch. BlackRock’s ETHA has attracted roughly $12.59 billion of investor money, while Grayscale’s ETHE has recorded the worst performance, losing approximately $5.05 billion to withdrawals since its launch. We could say the same for ETH ETFs as BTC, which has seen a decline in volatility to the current 76%.

L1 tokens end the year with a negative or negligible return

L1 tokens recorded the worst performance this year, resulting in zero or negative returns despite several key advancements across the networks. For instance, the Total Value Locked value for BTC has grown to $6.7 billion as of today, compared to an average of $760 million prior to October 2024.

The same can be said for Ethereum, Solana, and Base networks, which have exhibited a gradual increase in growth since 2021, demonstrating structural maturity across the cryptocurrency landscape. 

Despite reaching these significant steps in terms of maturity, returns exhibited this year have been very low across different blockchains. Based on on-chain data, the Bitcoin blockchain recorded a -6.76% return, alongside -12.94% for Ethereum and -11.48% for XRP. BNB has shown a positive return rate of 20.64% over the past 365 days.

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