It was the announcement that ripple (XRP) investors had been anticipating for more than a year, but the news that crypto exchange giant Coinbase was “exploring” support for the second-largest cryptocurrency failed to elicit even a microcosm of the sort of rally that even the mere rumor of a Coinbase listing frequently catalyzed during the 2017 bull run.
Ripple Price (XRP) Fails to Capitalize on Coinbase Announcement
As seen in the chart below, the ripple price failed to secure any sustained momentum following the Dec. 7 announcement, as a brief spike quickly gave way to the downward pressure that has plagued the crypto markets throughout 2018.
Indeed, XRP not only failed to rally against the US dollar in the days following the news but also declined against bitcoin (BTC), succumbing to a recent trend that has seen altcoins shed market share and BTC cement its position as the dominant cryptocurrency. Over the past five days, the bitcoin price is down 12.33 percent, while XRP has declined by a full 15 percent, with most of that divergence occurring over the past 24 hours.
A year ago, such performance would have been unheard of, as XRP saw multiple rallies based on mere rumors that Coinbase would list the token. Now that there is hard evidence that this will finally occur, the news has — pardon the pun — failed to make even a ripple.
Granted, Coinbase did not outright state that it would support ripple on its platforms and services, stressing that XRP and the other listed cryptocurrency assets are being “evaluated” for listing. However, four Ethereum tokens named in the Friday announcement have already been added to Coinbase Pro, signaling that the addition of XRP could occur sooner rather than later.
The End of the Coinbase Bounce?
The collective yawn that met the announcement may have less to do with XRP and more to do with Coinbase, which was once one of the most exclusive trading and investing platforms in the cryptocurrency industry. However, the firm has shifted course in 2018, unveiling a new set of listing guidelines that it says will allow it to provide support for more cryptocurrencies than it previously would have.
As one prominent personality on Crypto Twitter put it, “Coinbase went from the most conservative company in crypto to YOLO in like 6 months.”
Coinbase went from the most conservative company in crypto to YOLO in like 6 months
With last week’s addition of four more ERC-20 tokens, Coinbase Pro has already listed more cryptocurrencies in 2018 than the firm did in all previous years combined, and the announcement that revealed the firm was exploring support for ripple also named 30 other cryptocurrencies that may one day find themselves listed on the platform.
Consequently, while small-cap cryptocurrencies will always experience strong economic support from initial listings on large crypto exchanges, we may be close to seeing the end of the “Coinbase Bounce,” a phenomenon that has seen even major cryptocurrencies surge following their addition to the prominent brokerage and trading platform.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView.
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