Bird, the developer of the XRPL-based meme coin DROP, has triggered discussion by saying that anyone holding more value in XRP than in their bank account is a "genius." He contrasts bank savings rates of around 4–6% with rising living costs and frames XRP as a forward-looking asset, while also noting that how much XRP to hold is subjective and depends on personal circumstances.

On 18 January 2026 at 19:49, data from Santiment indicated that Ethereum's Proof-of-Stake deposit contract holds about 77.85 million ETH, valued at just over $256 billion. That equals roughly 46.6% of supply, with withdrawals gated by protocol exit limits. The scale has intensified debate over long-term supply stability versus potential exit-driven pressures.

On January 18, XRP slipped 1.18% day over day and was quoted at $2.0506. The intraday structure shows a false break near $2.0470; a close below may extend the pullback toward $2.04, while a breach of $2.0350 opens the way to the $2 zone. A drop toward $1.8209 remains possible into next week.

On January 18, Shiba Inu (SHIB) was trading around $0.00000836 after declining 2.42% over the previous 24 hours. Short-term charts show price moving toward nearby supports around $0.00000833 and $0.00000826, with analysts not expecting strong trend moves before the end of the month.

Dash fell to $76.21 as activity cooled, with trading volume down 24% to $1.36 billion and market capitalization slipping below $957 million. Derivatives open interest dropped to $162 million, with $20.38 million exiting and $3.4 million in liquidations, while Binance's taker buy/sell ratio was 1.002 and spot purchases reached $10.97 million.

Over a recent 12-hour span, XRP recorded about $528,940 in liquidations, of which roughly $522,900 came from long positions, creating an 8,700% imbalance versus shorts. Despite this long-heavy squeeze, XRP has been trading almost flat around the $2 mark, with price action clustering near $2.04–$2.053 as algorithms and leveraged traders repeatedly contest this level.

A whale wallet known for offloading 255 BTC in December has opened a 10x leveraged long position on 15.6 million DOGE, with a notional size of $2.14 million and entry near $0.137621. The trade sits close to a $0.12309 liquidation level as Dogecoin hovers below its December peak of $0.15209, while the same portfolio also holds large long positions in Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana.

On 18 January 2026, analysis by Joao Wedson found Ethereum's correlation with the Russell 2000 has weakened after several cycles of alignment. Despite the index's positive year-over-year performance, ETH's reactions are muted. The split may reflect a shifting risk regime or crypto pricing future conditions ahead of traditional finance.