XRP is lagging behind major cryptocurrencies in 2020, what's behind the lackluster performance?

Since the first week of January, XRP has increased by about 50 percent against the USD. While the number seems high, the upsurge is relatively weak compared to top cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and EOS. In the same period, Ethereum rallied by more than 100 percent against the USD, while EOS surged by well over 60 percent.

Throughout 2019, Ripple has had several high profile deals to uplift the XRP ecosystem.

Ripple worked to further bolster the XRP ecosystem, even securing a $200 million funding round along the way joined by its long time partner SBI Holdings.

The price trend of XRP shows that it lacks the spark it once had. Unlike Ethereum and several other major cryptocurrencies, XRP was heavily rejected at a key resistance level, placing it at risk of a steep correction.

With bitcoin at a break or make level along with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, XRP could see a resumption of a bear market despite being down by 92 percent from its all-time high.

In previous alt seasons and bull cycles, XRP outperformed many major and small cryptocurrencies in the global market.

The lackluster price trend of XRP in the past two months in comparison to top crypto assets indicates that the asset needs significantly stronger momentum than other cryptocurrencies to break through key resistance levels.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Ripple sold the least amount of XRP in recent history, placing less pressure on the market.

With highly anticipated deals and less XRP on sale in the market, theoretically, the cryptocurrency should have seen a larger rally than previous bull cycles.

One possible reason behind the struggle of XRP in recent months is that its sell-off throughout 2019 may have been too intense to recover in a single bull cycle.