XRP at $10 Could Deliver Best First-Year ETF Performance Ever

A prominent community figure suggests XRP could deliver the most successful first-year ETF launch in history if the asset confirms a major price breakout. 

Chad Steingraber, an XRP advocate and professional game developer, says XRP ETFs are quietly positioning for a historic run. Although they remain smaller than Bitcoin and Ethereum products, he suggests that rising inflows and trading activity are steadily drawing Wall Street’s attention.  

Key Points

• XRP ETFs continue to gain traction, with rising inflows increasingly capturing Wall Street’s attention.
• These steady inflows position XRP ETFs for a potential historic milestone if the price reaches $10.
• The outlook rests on the premise that consistent ETF inflows often drive strong price appreciation.
• Bitcoin’s ETF-fueled rally delivered a 180% gain after launch, but XRP supporters anticipate a sharper move. 

XRP Could Make History 

Steingraber shared this view while reviewing the performance of XRP exchange-traded funds, which show consistent growth across both spot and leveraged products. 

Recent data indicate these ETFs now manage roughly $2.3 billion in combined assets under management (AUM) as of mid-January. At the same time, core funds like Canary and Bitwise have posted year-to-date gains of more than 13%. Consequently, he believes Wall Street’s interest in XRP is gradually strengthening. 

According to Steingraber, XRP could make history if its price surpasses $10 within the ETF’s first year on the market. While leveraged XRP ETFs launched in Q2 2025, spot products debuted later in the year, setting a potential timeframe by the end of 2026. 

He argues that reaching this level in the ETFs’ first year would mark an unprecedented performance in the ETFs’ history. This milestone, if achieved, could further fuel institutional interest in XRP. 

Rationale Behind the Assertion

The argument centers on the belief that steady ETF inflows often drive strong price appreciation. For example, Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of $126,198 in October 2025, following consistent inflows into its ETFs. This marked a 180% increase from the roughly $45,000 level when the first spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024.

Similarly, XRP proponents expect increased ETF inflows to produce comparable momentum. However, they anticipate a sharper price surge within the first year of the ETFs’ rollout.

Path to $10 

For perspective, XRP currently trades around $1.68, meaning it would need to rally roughly 495% to reach $10 and potentially become the best-performing first-year ETF in history, according to Steingraber. By comparison, Bitcoin did not experience a move of that magnitude even over nearly two years following the launch of its spot ETFs.

However, skeptics question whether XRP can realistically hit the $10 target by year-end. They point out that the token failed to reach the widely projected $5 level last year, despite the presence of multiple ETFs.