According to CNBC, XRP has been labeled the "breakout trade" of 2026 after gaining more than 20% year to date and climbing to third place by market value. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has repeatedly failed to hold above $90,000 since November 2025, with traders treating the New Year advance as a likely bull trap. Cardano's ADA is testing the $0.40 support level as Bitmex futures volume spikes 25,084% to $162 million over 24 hours amid broad crypto liquidations.

Morgan Stanley filed for Solana and Bitcoin ETFs, with the SOL trust set to use custodians and staking rewards accruing to NAV. SHIB briefly hit $0.00001 after crossing its 100‑day EMA but reversed. John Bollinger cautioned on XRP, saying BTC > ETH > XRP, noting structure lags despite a roughly 32% gain since Jan. 1.

On Jan. 5, Ripple executed a 300 million XRP transfer identified by Whale Alert, with XRP posting over 6% daily gains as Bitcoin rose 3.24% and Ethereum 2.38%. SHIB's setup points to a 26.45% upside toward $0.0001101 after reclaiming $0.000087, while John Bollinger highlighted a "near perfect base" and targets at $100,000 and $107,000 for BTC.

Bitcoin reached an intraday high of $91,764 on Sunday and was $91,192 at press time, up 1.72% daily and 3.8% weekly. Shiba Inu broke higher at the 2026 start, hitting $0.00000899 as golden crosses formed on short-term charts. XRP traded near $2.11, with monthly Bollinger Bands outlining a 75% path toward $3.57.

Shiba Inu, the meme cryptocurrency launched in 2020, entered 2026 with renewed momentum after a prolonged downtrend and a difficult 2025. The project saw a major Shibarium bridge exploit in September 2025 and a $19 billion October market wipe-out, but also a sharp rise in SHIB burn rate and signs of seller exhaustion. Technical signals now point to a potential local bottom, with some scenarios targeting a return to the November 2024 price range if SHIB can remove a zero from its quote.

On Saturday, Jan. 3, XRP rose to $2.01 with a 6% daily gain, lifting its market capitalization to $122.05 billion and making it the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. Trading volume over 24 hours jumped 162.02% to $4.21 billion and open interest reached $1.3 billion, while inflows into XRP ETFs and a bullish long-term forecast from Standard Chartered highlighted growing institutional focus on the token.

Dogecoin has entered a strong rally, with its price rising 9.01% to $0.1405 and market cap reaching $23.63 billion as trading volume surged to $3.41 billion. At the start of 2026, DOGE also saw an 11.96% increase in futures open interest and a short-term moving average crossing above a longer one on the hourly chart. Other major meme coins, including Shiba Inu, Bonk and Floki, also recorded notable gains.

On Jan. 1, 2026, Shibburn reported SHIB's 24-hour burn rate jumping 10,728.80%, with about $172 million sent to burn addresses. Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP in three tranches at the start of January 2026, per Whale Alert. The digest also notes Bitcoin's first post-halving red year, diverging from the prior four-year cycle.

Between Dec. 22 and 26, XRP drew $64 million of ETF inflows while Bitcoin spot products saw $782 million in outflows and Ethereum lost $102 million, with Solana up $13.14 million. In the last hour, Bitcoin posted a 3,436% short‑liquidation imbalance as totals hit $4.93 million, according to CoinGlass, and SHIB formed an hourly golden cross.