Altseason off to a rocky start?…Sharp intraday drops for XRP, PumpFun and others

Expectations are rising for the arrival of an 'altseason' (a bull market for cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin) in the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market. However, the sharp fluctuations of major altcoins are resulting in an unstable beginning.

On the 25th (KST), Bloomberg reported that XRP attracted investor attention by surging over 60% since early July, only to plunge 11% in a single day soon after. In fact, XRP, which was worth only $2.20 at the beginning of this month, soared to $3.60 on the 18th. However, it fell sharply following news that the Ripple founder had transferred a large amount of XRP to a centralized exchange the day before.

As of 6:20 a.m. on this day, XRP was trading at $3.20, up 2.73% from the previous day.

Also, PumpFun (PUMP), which conducted a token launch at the start of the month, saw $600 million worth of tokens sold within just 12 minutes after issuance, leading to a sharp drop. At the same time, PumpFun was down 10.47% from the previous day, recording $0.002850.

Market experts saw this as a repetition of patterns observed in the past. Steve Kurz, Global Head of Asset Management at Galaxy Digital, analyzed, "It is a typical cycle that begins with major assets and then gradually sees capital flowing into lower-tier ones."

Meanwhile, Christine Pang of Hong Kong-based crypto hedge fund PSE Trading predicted, "If Bitcoin maintains the $117,000-120,000 range, the altcoin rally could be prolonged."

However, Bloomberg commented, "Unlike past altseasons, this cycle is characterized by short-term surges in a few assets rather than broad rallies," adding, "In particular, there are many tokens with high FDV (fully diluted value) but low circulating supply, raising concerns over price distortion and potential market manipulation."