XRP price still follows Wall Street signals, new study finds

A new academic study says XRP price moves still depend heavily on Wall Street signals. 

The research found that digital assets have not yet become separate safe havens from traditional finance.

The paper was published in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management in April 2026. It reviewed daily market data from 2018 to early 2026 and studied how information moved across asset classes.

Stocks and bonds lead market direction

Researchers at Yildiz Technical University studied seven major financial segments. These included top cryptocurrencies, G10 stock indices, tech stocks, commodities, government bond yields and sovereign risk measures.

The study found that G10 stock markets, 10-year government bond yields and five-year credit default swaps often send the strongest signals. Cryptocurrencies such as XRP mostly receive those signals rather than lead them.

Moreover, the findings challenge the idea that XRP and other crypto assets move independently from stocks and bonds. The paper said crypto portfolios remain closely linked to traditional markets.

Researchers described this as “information flow” between markets. In simple terms, price pressure from stocks, bonds and risk indicators often reaches crypto before crypto sends signals back to those markets.

Crises can change market order

The study also found that market leadership can shift during sudden crisis periods. In such moments, sovereign risk tools such as credit default swaps can become stronger drivers of stock and crypto prices.

The researchers used Transfer Entropy and Independent Component Analysis to filter market noise and track cleaner links between assets. Their findings suggest that XRP price action still follows broader financial conditions, even as crypto adoption grows.