Bitcoin (BTC) continues to outperform Ripple (XRP) as investors keep expecting the altcoin season to begin sooner or later. The recent rally in BTC/USD has left many excited but other not as much because they had been holding altcoins instead. Now, Ripple (XRP) and other altcoins have a long history of outperforming Bitcoin (BTC) but at this point it seems like the big players are more focused on Bitcoin (BTC) than other cryptocurrencies. This is because it is not about a bull run or altcoin season; it is about getting out of Tether (USDT) into Bitcoin (BTC) and from Bitcoin (BTC) into fiat. There are a lot of reasons why that might be happening. On surface, it is about Tether and Bitfinex but in an upcoming analysis we will discuss how this could be about the Financial Action Task Force.



All of these developments make it clear that this rally is more about Bitcoin (BTC) than other altcoins. Certainly every time BTC/USD rallies, we see altcoins rally as well but if we were in a bull market, XRP/BTC would be rallying a lot higher. The fact that it is not the case despite Ripple (XRP) being massively oversold against Bitcoin (BTC) shows that this is not the bull run. In fact, it is just a few big players propping up the price so they can get out. Normally, they would wait for retail bulls to prop the price up for them before they dump their coins on over the counter exchanges. However, this time they seem to be doing this themselves because they are in a big hurry to get rid of their coins before what is about to come. All this manipulation in Bitcoin (BTC) in the past few weeks is unlikely to go noticed by regulatory agencies and sooner or later they are going to start knocking on some doors.





Ripple (XRP) has failed to break out of the descending triangle either to the upside or the downside so far. The trend line resistance continues to stop XRP/USD from making any significant run up to the upside. That being said, the recent rejection is now likely to pave the way for a sharp decline to the bottom of the descending triangle. The more frequently the price visits this support, the more likely it is to eventually break below it.



XRP/USD seems to be in no position to break past the strong trend line resistance any time soon. The recent rally in Bitcoin (BTC) that Ripple (XRP) could not fully capitalize on, means that when BTC/USD comes down again XRP/USD is going to come down even harder. In fact the price is likely to settle around $0.15 by the end of the year which may be a good time to start thinking about going long on Ripple (XRP) if fundamentals remain unchanged. Ripple (XRP) has a good shot at adoption long term but short term it is due for significant further downside till it bottoms.