The cryptocurrency market saw a mild recovery in the past 24 hours, led by Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple Labs’ XRP, after a sharp sell-off earlier this week. Bitcoin’s price gained around 2%, trading at approximately $81,600 on Wednesday, March 12, during the early Asian session.
With growing institutional interest and shifting market sentiment, traders are now watching closely – could this be the setup for a major breakout?
Market Sentiment Jumps
Investor confidence is slowly recovering. Bitcoin’s fear and greed index rose from 20% to 34% in just 24 hours, signaling reduced panic in the market.
Meanwhile, XRP bounced back strongly, climbing more than 10% in the last 24 hours. After briefly dipping below the key support range of $2 to $1.90 on Tuesday, it regained momentum and was trading around $2.15 at the time of writing. XRP, with a fully diluted valuation of about $215 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $6.9 billion, also retested its falling logarithmic trend.
From a technical perspective, XRP is on the verge of a major breakout—if Bitcoin manages to regain momentum and push beyond $100,000. The altcoin has been retesting the lower boundary of a multi-week consolidation pattern. At the same time, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows a rising divergence, suggesting that bullish pressure is building.
Institutional Demand Drives XRP’s Surge
One of the main reasons behind XRP’s strong performance is growing interest from institutional investors. On Tuesday, Franklin Templeton, a top asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets under management, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF).
This move puts Franklin Templeton alongside other major fund managers, including Bitwise Management, Canary Capital, 21Shares, WisdomTree, and Grayscale Management, who are all seeking approval for an XRP-based ETF.
Will the SEC Approve a Spot XRP ETF?
The SEC delayed its decision on Grayscale’s spot XRP ETF application on Tuesday, but expectations of an approval by the end of 2025 have risen. Over the past 24 hours, the odds of an approval jumped by 3%, reaching about 73% on Polymarket.
All eyes are on Bitcoin’s next move—if the momentum holds, XRP and other altcoins could be in for a strong rally.
