How Bitcoin Outperformed ETH, XRP, BNB, and SOL During 2025-2026 Market Stress

A comparative analysis published on May 11 by XWIN Japan tracked how Bitcoin, Ethereum, $XRP, $BNB, and Solana held up during the six months of market stress between October 2025 and April 2026.

According to the report, that downturn was less about panic selling alone and more about “internal selection,” with investors separating Bitcoin from the broader altcoin market amid macro stress and shrinking liquidity.

Bitcoin Stayed Ahead While Altcoins Took Deeper Losses

Going by XWIN’s data, $BTC dropped 52.5% in that period, going from a peak of around $126,000 to roughly $60,000. And while that was a brutal fall in absolute terms, compared to the rest of the group, the flagship crypto held up better.

Solana got battered the most. It fell 71.6% from its highest level of $238 to $67. At the same time, Ethereum and $XRP declined by 63%, while Binance Coin dropped 59%.

In terms of recovery from their bottom prices, SOL enjoyed the biggest bounce at 38%, with Bitcoin the second-best at 34.7%.

XWIN Japan’s analysis divided the six-month period into three phases, namely a derivatives-driven unwind in late 2025, a macro fear and liquidity contraction phase in early 2026, and an institutional-led recovery this spring.

What it found, broadly, is that $BTC’s relative resilience wasn’t accidental, with the report pointing to ETF inflows, corporate treasury buying, and demand as a geopolitical hedge as ongoing sources of support through the worst of the selling.

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“Even during market stress, capital consistently returned to Bitcoin,” the analysis stated, describing $BTC as having become a global macro asset rather than just a crypto token.

$ETH, by contrast, saw its price collapse despite network activity holding up. The report noted that staking growth, Layer-2 usage, and stablecoin settlement stayed strong throughout the drawdown period, even as the price fell from around $4,700 to below $1,800.

On the other hand, $XRP’s relative performance was tied mostly to regulatory narrative and ETF expectations around cross-border payment themes, while $BNB stayed somewhat steadier due to activity within the Binance ecosystem.

Where Things Stand

We can get an indication of how much progress has been made so far by looking at present-day prices for the assets XWIN quoted in its research. For instance, Bitcoin is trading at around $81,000, which is an 11% increase from the previous month.

$ETH is around $2,300, up about 4% on the month, while $XRP gained some 7.5% in the same period and was changing hands near $1.45 at the time of writing.

Solana, however, has had the strongest performance of them all, up more than 12% in the past month and about 12% on the week, and is currently trading near $95.