Bitcoin Is Down 7% This Year and XRP Is Down 21%. Which Recovers First?

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) trades near $81,275, down 7% since the start of the year, while the XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) price trades near $1.45, down 21%. Both cryptos are currently in the green, but down for 2026, and XRP has three times the…

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) trades near $81,275, down 7% since the start of the year, while the XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) price trades near $1.45, down 21%. Both cryptos are currently in the green, but down for 2026, and XRP has three times the ground to make up.

Over the past month the XRP price has gained 37% and Bitcoin 26%, showing XRP is closing the gap in percentage terms even though it started much further down. So which one coin clears its year-to-date loss first, and what would have to happen for that recovery to hold?

Why the Bitcoin Price Is Down 7% This Year

The Bitcoin price began 2026 near $87,498 and now trades near $81,275, because money stayed expensive for most of the year. The 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.79% on September 2, the high of the past year, and at that level savers move money out of assets that pay nothing, since they can earn 4.79% on government debt with almost no risk. The Federal Reserve has held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% since December, so short-term cash still pays too.