XRP Bears Persist Despite Ripple Legal Optimism, DOGE Approaches Death Cross as Bitcoin Dominance Peaks

XRP Faces Bearish Sentiment Despite Ripple Legal Optimism, DOGE Approaches Death Cross as Bitcoin Dominance Reaches 4-Year High

Key Points:

• XRP's funding rates and cumulative volume delta suggest a persistent short bias despite its recent price rebound, a trend seen in several other tokens.
• DOGE is approaching a "death cross," a technical pattern with a mixed track record in forecasting BTC and ETH market trends.
• Traders are shifting funds from altcoins into Bitcoin, reinforcing BTC’s growing market dominance.

Despite the crypto market showing signs of stability, traders remain cautious with altcoins like XRP while continuing to shift funds into Bitcoin (BTC), the dominant cryptocurrency.

XRP, known for its role in facilitating cross-border payments through Ripple, has gained over 3% in the past 24 hours, reaching $2.24. The price surge is largely driven by optimism that Ripple's ongoing legal dispute with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may soon come to a resolution.

Despite XRP's price increase, open interest in perpetual futures across major exchanges has remained steady at approximately 1.35 billion XRP. Meanwhile, annualized funding rates and cumulative volume delta continue to show negative readings, according to data from Velo.

Negative funding rates indicate that short sellers are paying fees to their counterparts to maintain bearish positions, reflecting a market skewed toward shorting. Additionally, the negative cumulative volume delta—tracking net capital inflows—suggests that selling pressure has outweighed buying activity, potentially signaling continued bearish sentiment.

These indicators raise doubts about the sustainability of XRP's price increase. As of now, several other major cryptocurrencies—including DOGE, SOL, SUI, HBAR, LTC, BTC, TRX, and HYPE—are also showing negative cumulative volume deltas (CVDs) over the past 24 hours, suggesting broader selling pressure across the market.

For Dogecoin (DOGE), the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) is on the verge of crossing below the 200-day SMA, forming what is known as a "death cross." This technical pattern suggests that short-term price momentum is weakening relative to long-term momentum, potentially signaling the start of a larger bearish trend.

These SMA crossovers are closely watched by trend traders, meaning the confirmation of a death cross could trigger additional selling pressure. However, long-term SMA crossovers are lagging indicators, reflecting past sell-offs rather than reliably predicting future price movements. They have shown mixed success in forecasting trends for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

DOGE has already fallen 65% from its December peak of over 48 cents.

Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Reaches Four-Year High

Bitcoin's dominance rate, which measures its share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, has climbed to 62.5%, the highest level since March 2021, according to TradingView data.

Since the total crypto market capitalization peaked above $3.6 trillion in December, Bitcoin's dominance has risen from 55% to over 62%, reflecting a continued shift of capital into BTC from altcoins.

This trend highlights a sustained preference for Bitcoin, especially during broader market downturns, as investors seek stability in the leading cryptocurrency.