A couple months ago, I posted an article about Ripple. I bought in at fifteen cents and brought the topic up when it spiked to thirty cents. It appeared that heavy trading at that time at a South Korean exchange was driving the spike. It settled down, eventually even hitting just below twenty cents. But it has mostly been trading in the low twenties recently.
For those who haven't gotten in, this is an excellent time for me to tell you why I have been touting this currency to all my friends. Although currently, I would suggest waiting two to three days to get in, just to see what happens when the market evens out.
So, why Ripple?
If you haven't heard about Ripple, that is the really surprising thing. It has the fifth largest market cap of all cryptocurrencies. That is not insignificant. It trails only the heavy hitters, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. For a fraction of a second today, it moved past Litecoin into fourth place for total market cap. Yet it is the cheapest cryptocurrency. There are a lot of coins in circulation and the currency has been around longer than a lot of the other fashionable coins that have made moves this year. But Ripple keeps plugging away.
The reasons for Ripple are many. Aside from the high market cap, there is the issue of use cases. This crypto is attractive to financial institutions. It provides the security of crypto without the investment in infrastructure. Ripple is also being used by the Gates Foundation. Finally, the coin has been around a while. The longer a coin has been around, and the higher the market cap, the less likely the entire house of cards collapses. The potential for it to be one of the many pump and dumps we have seen decreases with a broader market base.
Ripple spiked to .45 cents, with a market cap spiked to over 17 billion. It is now settling back down. It is currently in the high .30s with a cap over 14 billion. It is still the fifth ranked crypto by cap. It is currently up fifty percent. It will likely settle back down some more before this is over. But this is the third spike in three months, with a new floor after each spike. While I am not qualified to give investment advice...and I am not, I would encourage people to do their own research into Ripple and see if it is a "long hold" they want to dabble in.
My money has more than doubled so far. I'm happy with that. For just a couple of months, it's not going Bitcoin crazy, but it continues to inch its way up.
Let me know your thoughts on Ripple. Do you like it? Or do you think it is a bad investment? Weigh in down below! I am anxious to see what people think. I am going in deeper once it settles.
