Trade and solana felt twice as bumpy as bitcoin in 2025, dashing hopes of market maturation beyond the largest cryptocurrency.
Realized volatility over the past 365 days hit 87% for solana and 80% for XRP, compared to BTC’s calmer 43%, according to data tracked by CoinDesk Indices. GDP the clock 55% and ether 77%.
Altcoins have tended to be more volatile than bitcoin over the years. Still, the latest data stands out because it shows that exchange-traded funds and other alternative investment vehicles tied to these tokens will need to draw in deeper liquidity to match BTC’s chill.
Apart from BNB, the four largest coins by market capitalization (excluding stablecoins) have CME futures and US-listed spot ETFs as proxies for institutional activity.
XRP ETFs have drawn over $1 billion in investor money since their debut in November, according to data source SoSoValue. The equally budding SOL ETFs have amassed $763.91 million.
If demand remains strong in the coming year, it could dampen price volatility, as observed in bitcoin.
Bitcoin spot ETFs, which debuted in January 2024, have attracted $56.96 billion in net inflows to date. This increase has led to interest in advanced products such as covered calls on these ETFs, which has led to a steady decline in volatility in BTC this year.
The same can be said for ether ETFs, which began trading the following July and have seen net inflows of $12.4 billion since their debut in mid-2024.
