Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) trading price on Jan 1 was $88,764, then it rallied to $97,860 on January 14. However, the Bitcoin price has fallen every month since and now trades at $63,899.
XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), on the other hand, traded at $1.88 on Jan 1, then rallied to $2.41 in the first week of January. But since that rally, the XRP price has fallen all year to $1.01 today. With less than five months left in 2026, where could both coins end the year, and which coin will end the year better?
XRP and Bitcoin’s Price Performance So Far in 2026
Bitcoin traded around $88,764 on Jan 1 and briefly rallied to $97,860. Bitcoin ETFs pulled in around $471 million on January 2, and trading volume exceeded $5 billion. Bitcoin’s price then lost around 15% in February as investors pulled $206.52 million from the ETFs, recovered above $76,000 in April on $1.97 billion of inflows, then lost 20% in June when $4 billion left the funds in a single month.
The price correction in June dropped Bitcoin to $58,566, its lowest level in 21 months. Bitcoin has traded in a narrow band near $63,000–$65,000 for most of July and early August, which is 35% below its January high.
XRP’s price on Jan 1 was around $1.88, then rallied 31% to $2.41 in the first week of January, but XRP now trades 58% below that January peak. XRP had two of its worst months in February and June, losing 16% and 22%, respectively.
XRP rallied to $1.48 on May 14 when the CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee. However, the rally faded and XRP ended May at $1.33. It first closed below $1.05 on June 25, bottomed at $1.0381 on June 30, and now trades near $1.01.
| Metric | Bitcoin | XRP |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Price | $88,764 | $1.88 |
| Current Price | $63,899 | $1.01 |
| YTD return | -28.0% | -46.3% |
| 2026 high | $97,860 (Jan) | $2.41 (Jan) |
| Best Month | April, +12.0% | July, +2.3% |
| Worst Month | June, -20.4% | June, -22.0% |
| Current Market Cap | $1.28 trillion | $63.2 billion |
By almost every metric, Bitcoin has had the better year so far, and that is mostly due to institutional support.
Institutional investors now hold 38% of Bitcoin ETF assets, up from 24% a year ago, with hedge funds, pension funds and advisors holding more than $40 billion between them. XRP ETFs are 84% retail, with only 15.9% in institutional hands, and retail money leaves faster than institutional money when markets sell off. That leaves XRP with more downside exposure for the same market conditions.
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Where Could Bitcoin End the Year?
The Federal Reserve’s rate decisions and the pace of ETF inflows will determine where Bitcoin trades between now and the end of the year. Bitcoin is trading between support at $60,000-$61,300 and resistance at $63,350-$65,150, and it would target $67,000-$70,000 if it closes above $65,150.
Bull Prediction
Bitcoin’s price could break its January high of $97,860 if ETF inflows return to the pace seen in early 2025, when weekly totals regularly exceeded $1 billion. The Federal Reserve would also need to signal a rate cut at the September 16 meeting rather than another hold.
If ETF inflows return and the Fed signals a cut, institutional money would likely come back into Bitcoin and push it toward the $95,000–$100,000 range by December. That would leave Bitcoin within 23% of its all-time high of $126,000 and add roughly $675 billion to its market cap.
Base Prediction
Bitcoin could end the year trading around $75,000—a 17% gain from today’s price—if ETF inflows stabilize with single days above $100 million and weekly totals above $750 million. The Fed would also need to hold rates steady rather than hike again.
The Federal Reserve has held at 3.50%–3.75% for five straight decisions under Chair Kevin Warsh. One more hold with no hawkish signal would give institutional buyers enough confidence to rebuild positions. Fidelity has identified $65,000–$75,000 as Bitcoin’s 2026 support band, and our base prediction is around the top end of that price range.
Bear Prediction
Bitcoin price could fall toward $52,000 if the Federal Reserve holds rates but signals a hike is coming at the September meeting, and ETF outflows resume at the pace seen between May and June.
A confirmed rate-hike bias would push institutional investors toward government bonds—which now pay 4.67% with no volatility—and away from Bitcoin, which pays nothing. That would likely push Bitcoin back toward the $52,000–$58,000 zone that marked its June low, an 18.6% decline from today’s price.
XRP Price Prediction: Where Could XRP End the Year?
XRP’s outlook rests almost entirely on the CLARITY Act, which would permanently classify XRP as a commodity under US law and hand oversight to the CFTC. The Senate returns from recess in September, and that vote decides where XRP ends the year. XRP is trading between support at $1.00–$1.03 and resistance at $1.10–$1.14, with a deeper floor near $0.97 if $1.00 breaks.
Bull Prediction
XRP could rally to $2.00 if the CLARITY Act passes its cloture vote in September, which clears the way for a full Senate vote.
If the bill passes with the CFTC’s expanded spot-market authority intact, Standard Chartered has argued that XRP ETF inflows could scale to $4 billion, roughly four times the $1.117 billion XRP ETFs pulled in over the first eight weeks after their November 2025 launch. That demand would push XRP toward $2.00, adding roughly $62 billion to its market cap.
Base Prediction
XRP could reach $1.50 by December if the Senate clears the September 15 cloture vote and monthly ETF inflows return to the $131.94 million investors put into XRP funds in May. That is a 49% rally from $1.01, and it would lift XRP’s market cap from $63 billion to roughly $94 billion.
Bear Prediction
XRP price could trade under $1 if the CLARITY Act misses the September cloture vote and XRP ETF outflows continue. The bill has already missed the May markup window, the July 4 White House target, and the August recess deadline that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had promised would include a floor vote. XRP ETF products have taken in just $3.27 million across the whole of August, with six of the ten trading days recording no flow at all, so if that dries up and the Senate does not schedule a cloture vote in September, XRP would struggle to hold the $1.00 floor it has defended since June.
XRP’s price could drop to $0.75 by December, and its market cap would drop to roughly $47 billion.
Which Coin Will End the Year Better?
Bitcoin will most likely outperform XRP through the end of 2026 because XRP’s whole year rests on a Senate vote that has already missed three deadlines. XRP ETF inflows are also down 79% from their May peak of $131.94 million, and 84% of those flows come from retail, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
By contrast, Bitcoin’s bull prediction isn’t based on a single event, and Bitcoin ETF flows pulled in $853.54 million in the first week of August—their best week since April. However, we would change our view if the CLARITY Act clears the cloture vote with a wide bipartisan margin in September and XRP ETF inflows return to $50-$100 million per week over the two weeks that follow.
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