XRP Is Up 46% in Three Months and Still Down 17% for 2026. Can It End the Year Green?
XRP has clawed back nearly half its losses with a sharp three-month rally, but the road to finishing 2026 in the green runs through a math problem that gets harder every week it waits.
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XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) has risen significantly, up about 46% over the last three months, moving from about $1.05 in late June to $1.53 as of September 27, 2026. Despite this impressive rally, the token is still down approximately 17% for the year and about 46% below its value from the same time last year.
The key price point that will determine whether XRP ends 2026 positively is around $1.85—the price it began the year at. Can a coin that has already rallied 46% since June add another 21% by December 31?
XRP Needs a 21% Gain to $1.85 to End 2026 in the Green
A 17% decline means that regaining lost ground requires more than a simple 17% increase, as recovery starts from a lower level. To return to roughly $1.85 by year-end, XRP needs to rise about 21% from its current price of $1.53.
With a market cap of about $96.6 billion, this rise implies that XRP’s market value needs to grow by approximately $20 billion over the next three months. This translates to around 6.5% growth each month for October, November, and December.
Additionally, many recent investors are still facing losses. As of September 24, the average XRP buyer from the past year is down about 12%, meaning some may sell as the price climbs back to where they initially bought.
XRP’s Rally Is Slowing but Still Beats the 6.5% Monthly Pace It Needs
Most of XRP’s gains over the past three months came in the last two months, with the token climbing around 42% from about $1.08. This suggests a steady influx of buyers during August and September, rather than just a single spike.
However, the pace of growth is slowing. XRP gained about 9.9% in the last month, lower than the rapid increases seen in July and August. Still, this monthly gain exceeds the needed growth of roughly 6.5%, and if XRP continues to rise at the same 9.9% rate, it could reach around $2.03 by the end of December.
New investments are also flowing in, particularly from U.S. spot XRP ETFs, which attracted $75.6 million from September 21 to September 25—up significantly from $9.6 million the previous week, according to SoSoValue.
XRP Has the Biggest 2026 Loss of the Four Major Coins
Among the four leading cryptocurrencies, XRP is experiencing the largest loss this year.
| Coin | 2026 Change as of September 27 |
|---|---|
| Solana | -2.7% |
| Bitcoin | -3.7% |
| Ethereum | -9.3% |
| XRP | -17.3% |
Both Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) and Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) could easily turn positive with a strong week, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) needs about a 10% gain to return to positive territory. In contrast, XRP requires more than double that effort.
XRP typically mirrors Bitcoin’s movements. When Bitcoin rises, larger coins like XRP usually see gains as well. So, a rally in Bitcoin towards its year-start level of around $87,500 could make it easier for XRP to climb. If Bitcoin stalls, however, XRP will need its own buyers to drive the price up.
Can XRP End 2026 in the Green?
XRP still has a chance to finish 2026 in the green, but it cannot afford to slow down. The token needs to maintain about 6.5% monthly growth through December. While its recent monthly gain of about 9.9% exceeds this target, the momentum has cooled since the summer months.
The crucial level to watch is $1.53. If XRP stays above this price throughout October while ETF inflows continue, it stands a better chance of reaching $1.85 by December 31. However, if XRP falls below $1.53 by the end of October, it would need close to a 10% monthly increase in November and December to recover, putting it at risk of finishing 2026 as the weakest of the four major cryptocurrencies.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing
