
The cryptocurrency market witnessed a slight dip on Friday as Bitcoin failed to hold above $116k, while Ethereum, XRP, Solana and Chainlink have pared gains.
The global crypto market capitalization was down 2.2% to about $4.03 trillion.
Profit taking was driving sentiment as stocks also traded mixed despite talks between President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping ending with a “deal” for TikTok.
Ethereum drops 3% to $4,460
Ethereum price dropped 3% in the past 24 hours to trade around $4,460.
While price remains below its recent all-time high, Ethereum’s appeal for institutional investors is evident amid treasury companies’ bets and whale activity.
Whale 0x89Da opened a 25x leveraged long on 21,966 $ETH($99.5M) 9 hours ago. This whale had previously completed 53 trades with an 81.13% win rate and a profit of $2M+. hyperdash.info/trader/0x89Da4…
The expected ETF momentum and growing adoption is key to Ethereum price movement.
XRP eyes gains amid ETF hype
XRP price surged to highs of $3.13 on Thursday, propelled by the launch of the REX-Osprey XRP ETF (XRPR) which saw $24 million in trading volume within its first 90 minutes.
The ETF’s debut ended with over $37.7 million in volume which was the highest day one volume for any project launched in 2025.
However, amid a crypto downturn, XRP gave back the gains in an intraday performance that pushed the Ripple token to lows of $2.99.
The coin hovered just above $3.00 but could drop further to retest key levels before bouncing.
Resistance near $3.30–$3.60 could challenge short-term gains, but XRP’s bullish outlook continues to drive sentiment.
Solana retreats below $240
Solana (SOL) was trading at $237 on Friday, down more than 5% for the second biggest drop in the past 24 hours among the top 10 coins.
Only Dogecoin, with a 6% dive over the same period, showed more losses.
Like Ethereum and XRP, SOL has benefited largely from treasury company bets and whale accumulation.
Despite the drop, Solana’s price could reclaim the uptrend to hit new all-time highs above $300.
Spot Solana ETF speculation also drives the bullish outlook for SOL.
This comes as the first US Solana staking ETF, SSK launched by REXShares, attracts inflows.
SSK added over $19.1 million in inflows on Sept. 18, pushing weekly inflows to over $42 million and total assets under management to $321 million.
Chainlink price hovers around $23.40
Chainlink (LINK) traded around $23.40 at the time of writing, with its value down nearly 5% in 24 hours.
However, the oracle provider, whose solutions support DeFi and traditional finance amid massive integrations, is also bullish.
Chainlink’s steady performance cements its role as a critical infrastructure asset in the altcoin space.
Analysts say LINK is undervalued, with adoption across banks, real-world assets platforms and gaming on a roll for Chainlink.
The project’s staking, reserve initiative and ETF anticipation are also huge catalysts likely to explode the value of LINK.
As top altcoins struggled, some of the small caps shot up. These include Aster, DeXe and Story.
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