XRP has surged roughly 40% in five days, climbing from under $1.00 to nearing $1.40 in what is shaping up to be its biggest weekly rally since the pump that followed the 2024 U.S. election. The bounce started from $0.98, notably the same level XRP sat at just before that 2024 rally carried it to an all-time high near $3.65.
The move hasn't happened in isolation. It arrives alongside Bitcoin's own largest weekly gain since 2023, with XRP outperforming most of the broader market as capital rotated into altcoins during the same short-squeeze-driven rally.
Clarity Act momentum is doing real work
Unlike a purely technical bounce, XRP's move has a specific legislative catalyst. President Trump publicly urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, the digital asset market-structure bill, with Ripple's own CEO present — and the Senate is now expected to vote on advancing the bill on September 15. The full text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) would classify XRP as a commodity under federal law rather than a security, a distinction that has hung over the token's legal status for years. For more on how federal regulators are moving on this front independent of Congress, see CFTC Chair Selig: Crypto Rules Are Coming, With or Without Clarity Act.
Related: PENGU Holders Hit Record 856,710 as Token Surges 17%
Whales were positioning before the move
On-chain data shows large holders were accumulating ahead of the rally rather than chasing it. Addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP bought approximately 380 million tokens in the week leading up to the surge, according to on-chain trackers — positioning that suggests at least part of the move was anticipated by sophisticated holders rather than purely reactive to the week's headlines.
What would confirm the move has legs
XRP hasn't traded near $1.40 in months, and the token's history shows it can give back rapid gains just as quickly if the catalyst driving them stalls. A Senate vote that actually advances the Clarity Act on September 15 would be the clearest confirmation that this rally reflects a genuine change in XRP's regulatory outlook rather than a spillover from Bitcoin's short squeeze.
