Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, and Solana Drop. Will Crypto Recover by the End of 2026?

Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) has lost 29% of its value since January, and it is the best performer of the four largest cryptos this year. Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) is down 37%, Solana (CRYPTO:SOL) 40%, and the XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) price has fallen 47% and dropped below $1 this month for the first time since November 2024.

Interest rates are part of the reason the top cryptocurrencies are plunging. The Federal Reserve has held them at 3.50% to 3.75% all year with three of its members voting for a hike at the last meeting, and while rates stay that high, investors get a guaranteed return from government bonds without taking on crypto’s volatility.

That leaves four and a half months for the market to turn, so will crypto recover by the end of 2026?

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP Have All Fallen This Year

Interest rates hit the whole market, and each of the four major cryptocurrencies carry a separate problem on top of that.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin trades at $63,146, down 28.86% this year, which is a smaller fall than Ethereum, Solana or XRP have taken. The Bitcoin price set a new ATH of $126,000 last October and reached $57,950 on July 1, which was a 21-month low.

The reason BTC keeps falling is that investors moved capital into AI stocks and pulled a net $4.83 billion out of Bitcoin ETFs across the year, including $4.51 billion in June—the worst month those funds have ever recorded. Strategy, the largest corporate holder, also sold Bitcoin in late May for the first time since 2022, then sold another 3,588 coins between June 29 and July 5.