What Would Have to Happen for Stellar (XLM) to Hit $0.50?
Stellar sits 78% below its all-time high while rival altcoins surge, but a Wall Street giant's blockchain ambitions and a quiet network upgrade could change everything for XLM holders watching that $0.50 milestone.
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The Stellar price (CRYPTO:XLM) is around $0.18 as of October 21, 2026, meaning XLM would need to increase about 171% to reach $0.50. While XLM is up 4.5% in the last 24 hours, it has dropped 10.9% over the past month, fluctuating between $0.17 and $0.23 in October. XLM also trades 78.9% below its all-time high set in January 2018.
Investors often watch the $0.50 mark, since XLM has surpassed it in many previous rallies. The last time it ended a month above $0.50 was in November 2024, closing at around $0.53. So what would it take for Stellar to reclaim that milestone?
Stellar Would Need a Market Value of $17.6 Billion at $0.50
XLM has a total market value of about $6.49 billion. Market value is calculated by multiplying the token price by the circulating supply, the total number of tokens available for trading. To hit $0.50, XLM’s circulating supply would need to be valued at approximately $17.6 billion.
XLM last traded above $0.50 in July 2025, reaching a peak of about $0.52 before closing the month around $0.40 due to selling pressure. A similar situation unfolded in May 2021 when XLM surged to approximately $0.80, only to close near $0.40.
An increasing supply poses an additional hurdle. The Stellar Development Foundation releases tokens from its reserves over time, meaning XLM would need to reach a higher total value in 2027 than it did in 2021 or 2024 to hit $0.50. Buyers would first need to absorb this new supply.
Stellar’s Protocol 30 Upgrade Needs User Adoption
Stellar reportedly launched an upgrade called Protocol 30 on October 20, designed to enhance smart accounts. A smart account is a type of wallet that operates based on programmable rules, allowing users to sign in with a passkey or set spending limits. However, the Stellar Development Foundation had not officially announced this upgrade at the time of writing.
Improved wallet functionality could attract more payment applications and users to Stellar. Nonetheless, an increase in XLM’s price from this upgrade depends heavily on a significant rise in transaction volume and the number of tokenized assets on the network after launch.
XLM Has Not Kept Pace With Bitcoin’s Rally
Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) is priced at approximately $83,521, up 27.7% over the last 90 days, while XLM has remained mostly stagnant. In the same timeframe, XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) has risen 20.8%, and Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) 33.5%.
With Bitcoin commanding 59.6% of the total crypto market value, most investor interest still centers on this dominant coin. The Fear and Greed Index reads 48, indicating a neutral market sentiment.
A broader market rally could still trigger a swift increase in XLM’s price. For example, following the U.S. election in November 2024, XLM rose from around $0.09 to close the month at approximately $0.53, quickly surpassing the $0.50 mark.
DTCC’s Plans for Stellar Could Boost Demand in 2027
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which handles U.S. stock trades, announced in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation on May 27 that it plans to tokenize assets it holds on the Stellar network. Tokenization turns stocks or bonds into digital tokens that operate on a blockchain. Both organizations expect these assets to be available on Stellar in the first half of 2027.
However, DTCC’s initial services will run on the Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu network, without Stellar, and DTCC has not confirmed when Stellar will join. With Stellar’s transaction fees at a tiny fraction of a cent, XLM’s price would largely depend on the trading activity these tokenized securities generate.
Can the Stellar Price Reach $0.50 Before DTCC Goes Live?
Stellar faces a challenging road to hit $0.50 before the DTCC connection launches in the first half of 2027. To get there, XLM would first need to break its October high of $0.23 and its May high of around $0.30, while Bitcoin’s rally spreads into altcoins. A monthly close above $0.30 would make a $0.50 target more realistic, though profit-taking near $0.40—a level XLM closed at in July 2025—could pose a risk.
If DTCC’s timeline for Stellar slips past the first half of 2027, or if Bitcoin turns down, XLM may slide back toward its August low of about $0.15. A monthly close below this level could put the $0.50 target out of reach for 2027.
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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
