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XRP overtakes BNB in market cap – But can this shift sustain?

By Lennox Gitonga · Published March 18, 2026 · 3 min read · Source: AMBCrypto
AltcoinsMarket Analysis
Written by Written by Lennox Gitonga Reviewed by Reviewed by Saman Waris Updated 07:30 IST March 18, 2026 Share Share
XRP overtakes BNB in market cap - But can this shift sustain?

Is Ripple [XRP] becoming a better option than Binance Coin [BNB]?

The crypto market’s recent rebound has resulted in a restructuring of positions for the top-capped altcoins. These top cap coins showed strength, with most of them breaking out of the consolidations that went on throughout the month of February.

In particular, XRP gained about 2.60% in the past 24 hours, taking the weekly change to more than 7%. How did this impact the positions of different crypto market caps?

XRP flips BNB by market cap

As per data from CoinGecko, the market cap of XRP rose to about $92.37 billion, flipping that of BNB, which was at $91.58 billion.

This flip put XRP as the fourth most capped crypto behind Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and Tether’s USDT. BNB has been holding the fourth position since the 7th of October, 2025.

However, this lead may not last, as the gap separating them was less than a billion in capital. This race remained very tight.

XRP
Source: CoinMarketCap

Such a flip happened after massive capital inflows, indicating participants preferred XRP to BNB.

What’s next after the price breakout?

Looking at the charts, XRP has been trading inside a range for more than a month but broke above this consolidation.

The Bollinger Bands (BB) were opening up, indicating increasing volatility in the upside direction. The Directional Movement Index (DMI), whose Average Directional Index (ADX) was rising, supported the bullish trend.

However, XRP was rejecting this sideways consolidation breakout. Only holding above the range would ascertain that the altcoin may hit levels near $1.90, which was the lower high that produced this year’s low of $1.12.

XRP
Source: XRP/USDT on TradingView

Such a breakout puts $1.85 or higher levels in sight, as backed by analyst Ali Martinez. In his analysis, the altcoin broke above a triangle pattern, aligning with an earlier prediction of a 30% move.

Hitting $1.85 remains in question as the ETF inflow data contrasts this outlook.

XRP ETFs record outflows for the sixth day

XRP ETFs recorded the sixth consecutive day of outflows, with the previous day’s fueled by 21Shares’ TOXR.

As per SoSoValue, traders withdrew about $5.98 million from TOXR, while other XRP ETFs recorded zero flows. TOXR net inflow was red, while others were all green.

The trend indicated there was competition from other ETFs like Ethereum and Bitcoin, which were back to green over the past five days. Still, prices of the products were up by more than 9% as cumulative net inflow remained around $1.2 billion.

Ripple XRP
Source: SoSoValue

The outflows indicated weak short-term demand for ETFs as capital rotation remained limited. Therefore, this could be a hurdle going forward, thus affecting the price of the native token, XRP.


Final Summary 

Lennox Gitonga

Journalist

Lennox Gitonga is a Financial Market and On-Chain Analyst at AMBCrypto with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance. As a former equities trader, he applies traditional market rigor to crypto, delivering clear technical and on-chain analysis that explains price action, liquidity, and network behavior driving digital asset trends.

This article was originally published on AMBCrypto and is republished here under RSS syndication for informational purposes. All rights and intellectual property remain with the original author. If you are the author and wish to have this article removed, please contact us at [email protected].

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