XRP is now up 200% since the start of November, at highest price since mid-2018

XRP has ripped higher over the past few days as the coin finally begins to catch up with Bitcoin and the decentralized finance (DeFi) market.Despite the fact that the coin has not seen ostensible fundamental events, it is roaring higher, pulling no punches in its ascent to the upside. The coin is up over 50 percent in the past 24 hours alone as it pushes to $0.75, its highest price in many years.According to CryptoSlate market data, XRP is the best-performing crypto asset in the top 100 over the past 24 hours, save for Stellar Lumens (XLM), the cousin of the third-largest cryptocurrency.

The coin briefly spiked to $0.92 on Coinbase, and only Coinbase, and it appeared that the market makers for the XRP markets on the exchange ran out of money or pulled their orders to maintain their books.On other exchanges, the coin only reached $0.80, showing how absurd this rally has been.WTF? XRP is pumping?XRP’s rally has caught many traders with their proverbial pants down.Many on Twitter are openly admitting that they did not expect such a move to come so fast. For context, the coin is up over 200 percent since the month started, outperforming basically all other altcoins except for some DeFi blue chips.Industry researcher Larry Cermak remarked:

“Coinbase’s 10% price increase notifications for XRP are literally spamming my phone in the last 24 hours. I don’t know how to feel about that. Dumb money is here”

Coinbase’s 10% price increase notifications for XRP are literally spamming my phone in the last 24 hours. I don’t know how to feel about that. Dumb money is here

— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) November 24, 2020

Many see this as a sign that the retail investors that plagued the last crypto bull run have returned.XRP has basically been a dead coin up until the past three weeks.The coin set a series of lower highs and lower lows through late 2019, early 2020, and even well into the summer. Many thought the cryptocurrency would never rally again, pointing to the fact that there was mass-selling pressure from whales of the coin.Stellar goes to the moon as affinity XRP playStellar Lumens (XLM), the coin launched by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, is also shooting higher.The two cousin coins have long rallied in tandem, both sporting the “X” at the start of their tickers.XLM has gained 70 percent in the past 24 hours, making it the best performing crypto asset in the top 100 by market capitalization.Like XRP, XLM was largely lagging other top altcoins like Ethereum and Litecoin heading into the past few weeks. Many see this price action as a reversion to mean.