Usman Salis
Stellar (XLM) is showing some decent gains right now, but there's a catch - it's still waiting for that golden cross everyone's been expecting. While other cryptos are already enjoying their golden cross moments, this XRP rival seems to be taking its sweet time.
Here's what's happening: Stellar's 9-day moving average hasn't crossed above the 21-day moving average yet on the daily chart. This basically means XLM's current price bump is mostly riding the wave of the broader market rally, not its own momentum.
The good news? That golden cross is probably coming soon. If the current bullish vibes stick around, XLM could see some nice price action. But here's where things get tricky - the volume situation isn't looking great.
XLM Volume Takes a Hit Despite Price Gains
Even though Stellar (XLM) jumped 6.29% in the last 24 hours, trading volume crashed by 20.88% to $160.61 million. That's not exactly what you want to see when prices are going up.
Right now, XLM is trading at $0.2446. Earlier, it bounced from a low of $0.2301 and hit a peak of $0.2477 before pulling back a bit. The price action has been pretty decent, but that volume drop is concerning.
For XLM to keep this momentum going and actually trigger that golden cross, we need to see more people jumping in. If traders start getting more active with the coin, it could flip from the red zone to green territory, which would be much better for the price outlook.
PayPal Partnership Could Be a Game-Changer for XLM
The biggest thing that could send Stellar (XLM) to the moon this cycle is PayPal's plan to launch on the Stellar network. This isn't just another partnership announcement - we're talking about millions of PayPal users potentially getting access to XLM for everyday payments.
PayPal's CEO Alex Chriss seems pretty excited about it too. He mentioned that partnering with Stellar would help them reach more developers and create new opportunities in the ecosystem. That's the kind of real-world adoption that could seriously impact XLM's price.
Currently, Stellar sits at 17th place in market cap rankings, about $310 million behind Avalanche in 16th. If this PayPal thing works out, XLM could easily climb higher on that list.
What's Next for Stellar (XLM)?
Look, the delayed golden cross isn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world either. XLM's technical setup is still progressing - it's just moving slower than other coins in this market.
The real question is whether Stellar can get its act together on the volume front. Right now, it's in the red zone, and that needs to change for any sustainable price growth.
Bottom line: XLM has some solid fundamentals with the PayPal partnership on the horizon, but it needs to see more trading activity to really take off. The golden cross will come eventually, and when it does, it could be pretty sweet if everything else falls into place.
Usman Salis
