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 and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.
