There is something of a battle for second place in cryptocurrency markets going on right now. The number two and three spots, Ether and Ripple respectively (at the time of writing, at least) have swapped positions twice already today with both showing exceptional strength on a day that is uncharacteristically green considering trends so far in 2018.

XRP and ETH Battle it Out for Second Spot

The price of the native currency on the Ripple network, XRP, shocked many today by surging impressively to overtake Ether (ETH) for the first time since December 2017. The 24-hour low for XRP was just over 37c per coin. Fast forward 17 hours and XRP had reached a high of almost 77c per coin.

Following the dramatic increase in the price of XRP, many took to Twitter to gloat over their supposed clairvoyance for backing the controversial currency.

$XRP Where are all the XRP shit talkers now??? LMAO "XRP will never go back up" "XRP will never go to ATH" "NO one wants XRP anymore" LOL LOL LOL How quiet they have become! Bank coin or no bank coin, who cares as long as its going to put money in your pocket!! Can you say ROI pic.twitter.com/uKec2oj5Tq — Bleeding Crypto (@Bleeding_Crypto) September 21, 2018

Meanwhile, others were more measured in their responses, stating that such a sudden pump was the dictionary definition of the kind of pure market manipulation that the SEC are worried about in relation to various Bitcoin ETF proposals. Larry Cermak, an analyst for the Diar cryptocurrency newsletter Tweeted:

XRP skyrocketing by 80%+ in one day is the reason why this market desperately needs regulation. Fundamentally nothing about XRP changed in the past 24 hours and yet, here we are. Pumping a multi billion market cap asset in the matter of hours is the definition of manipulation — Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) September 21, 2018

Although almost all markets are in the green today, the dramatic price surge in Ripple buying seems to have prompted by announcements earlier in the week about the xRapid payment system, along with news that PNC bank will be using the Ripple network to facilitate international transfers.

However, the displaced number two cryptocurrency was quick to respond with its own price surge. Not quite as impressive as that of XRP, the price of a single Ether coin also rocketed up, as if prompted into action by the threat of losing out its privileged position behind bitcoin.

The price seemed to be following the rest of the market with a slight increase until around 19:39 GMT. It has since been on its own parabolic uptrend taking it from around $229 to just shy of $250. In terms of market cap, a billion dollars was added in just over an hour.

https://twitter.com/iamjosephyoung/status/1043218869161099264

At present there is no indication why Ether has responded to the XRP price move with its own forceful rebound. It seems unlikely that such a move was simply caused by salty ETH fans not wanting to see their favourite crypto project take third place behind a coin that many dismiss based on its links to international banking institutions. However, cryptocurrency markets are indeed full of surprises.