Lumen love fest

A howling week of high points concluded with Bitcoin trying to hold the $90K line and numerous altcoins clamoring for attention. 

Now a new week begins with a bumper crop of break-out performances. 

High up on the list: Stellar Lumens (XLM). It's the 23rd-largest coin, and it is up 28% in 24 hours, probably piggy-backing on the recent momentum of rival XRP. That coin, the one associated with Ripple, has been riding a wave of favorable vibes surrounding the regulatory scene. XRP surged 90% in the past week, cracking a dollar. XLM, meanwhile, surged 118% in that same period, reaching $0.24, its highest mark of the year. Each asset is connected with cross-border payments and there's some shared heritage in terms of their co-creators.

Another roaring altcoin right this moment is Hedera (HBAR). The 33rd-largest token soared 34% since this time yesterday. Canary Capital's bid to launch an HBAR-themed ETF appears to have captured the attention of investors in the HBAR futures market.

Let's not lose sight of Solana (SOL), not too far from its record high of about $260 hit three years ago. The No. 4 coin neared $248 early this morning following a 48% gain in the past two weeks.

Post-election fever has at least momentarily broken for some major coins but it lingers across the landscape for alts. Indeed, yesterday turned into a Sunday "fun day" for several coins that reached record highs. Bonk's ATH came about mid-day. The Solana-bred, canine-themed memecoin hit $0.00005601 following a 20% gain in 24 hours. BONK, 37th-largest token, has more than doubled in the past week. Meanwhile, No. 40 Mantra (OM) hit a record price of $3.67 at about 3 p.m. (EST) on Sunday having soared 57% in a single day. It's a layer-one chain with a focus on real world assets (RWA).

And we can't leave out those frisky cat coins. We saw Popcat (POPCAT) hit an ATH above $2 yesterday. The 64th-largest coin sprang to life this past January at less than one cent. Additionally,  there's Cat in a dogs world (MEW) which came into existence this past spring but only recently began purring. It also hit an ATH (of $0.01288) yesterday.

Okay, so technically we are looking at a down day in crypto. But it's hardly the end of the world.

Total crypto assets fell 2% in 24 hours. That was as of today at 8:25 a.m. (EST). The worldwide market capitalization of all coins stands at a record $3.19 trillion.

Bitcoin is down 1.4% the past day. The largest crypto has ballooned by 30% in the past fortnight.

Among the Big Ten, Ethereum and Dogecoin each are slightly red today. ETH is actually down 4% on the week.

We've kept a curious eye on Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) as it climbed from a quirky, semi-autonomous-bot-generated idea kernel into a Top 100 digital asset. It's still No. 93, with a market capitalization of roughly $1 billion. But GOAT is one of the worst performers of the past 24 hours, down 19%.

Still, the convergence of AI and memes could drive a new "supercycle" narrative going forward as traders seek out the newest concept on which to gorge themselves (Decrypt).

Sky-high expectations for a favorable regulatory environment helped push XRP well over the $1 mark this past weekend.

As of Monday at 8:10 a.m. (EST), XRP was $1.12. One month ago, it was 54 cents. A genuine breakout at long last? Investors do seem convinced that Ripple, the ledger technology company with which XRP is closely associated, will soon resolve its legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The weekend price spike — to as high as $1.26 — reflects recent bullish activity in the futures and options markets. CoinDesk reports that, as of Saturday, XRP futures open interest had struck a record high of $1.53 billion. This action would seem to underscore how traders, bulls and bears alike, are betting on volatility as a once utterly lethargic token suddenly finds itself high-stepping.

XRP's turbo boost started Thursday with news that 18 U.S. states filed a lawsuit accusing the SEC of unconstitutional overreach in its years-long crackdown on crypto, something of a massive signal the regulatory script is on the verge of getting flipped.

Next came rumors, circulating on social media, of a supposed meeting between Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump. While Garlinghouse would neither confirm nor deny the rumor when asked about it by a Fox Business reporter, he was just coy enough to cryptically emphasize how "the crypto industry has embraced Trump and Trump has embraced the industry."

Garlinghouse thinks the incoming administration genuinely will seek to advance the industry's agenda. XRP enthusiasts must feel as if the worm has finally turned but big market forces still have a say as to whether this party rages on.

At one point over the weekend, XRP had rocketed more than 50% to a three-year high of $1.26. It subsequently shed about 20%. The pullback possibly resulted from substantial XRP inflows, totaling in the tens of millions, into centralized exchanges, signaling some beastly profit-taking (Cointelegraph).