Reddit rage as XRP price crashes 50% hours after hitting two-week highs

XRP, the number-four cryptocurrency by market capitalization, crashed nearly 50% in under two hours on Feb. 1 as a trading frenzy backfired on new investors.

XRP traders nurse 48% losses

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed that extreme volatility set in for XRP/USD during Monday trading, hours after now-infamous Reddit group r/Wallstreetbets opted to buy the token en masse.

After reaching highs of $0.75, losses began mounting fast, the downside accelerating until XRP bounced off lows of $0.39 — 48% beneath the top.

At the time of writing, XRP/USD traded at around $0.45, with large swings still commonplace on low time frames. The social daily sentiment score has also reached levels not seen since January 2018, according to data from The Tie. 

Responding, critics of the controversial altcoin were first to issue warnings over what they saw as the pitfalls of investing in it over Bitcoin (BTC) for short-term trading. 

"Even though the $XRP army get aggressive when you warm them about the escrow shaped elephant in the room, I still can’t help but feel sorry for those that bought at 0.75c today. X R (I)P," regular Cointelegraph Markets' contributor Keith Wareing summarized on Twitter.

DOGE holds on

Previously, XRP had been on a different downtrend as a result of legal action against Ripple, the blockchain payment network th constitutes its largest investor. The rebound had delighted other fans, who had watched as the coin hit lows of under $0.16 just weeks ago.

Meanwhile, XRP was not the only target of Reddit traders on the day, with Dogecoin (DOGE) and silver seeing huge increases.

At the time of writing, DOGE/USD was holding on to its gains, which had taken it to near $0.04. A mention from Elon Musk in an interview late on Sunday singling it out among other altcoins had buoyed sentiment among fans of the meme-based altcoin.

By contrast, as Cointelegraph reported, little action was present on Bitcoin spot markets, with the closest bullish support at $34,000 yet to be realized.