Stellar (XLM) Flips Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as Bulls Initiate 13% Climb

Stellar ($XLM) has surpassed Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) in crypto market capitalization rankings as a fresh wave of buying pressure sends $XLM higher.

$XLM has risen over 13% in the last 24 hours, building on a weeklong rally that followed a major golden cross on its daily chart over the past weekend.

The move has taken Stellar two spots above Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) in crypto market rankings. According to CoinMarketCap data, Stellar ($XLM) ranks 16th largest with a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, followed by Near Protocol (NEAR), which sits in the 17th spot with a market cap of $6.66 billion. Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) ranks as the 18th largest crypto with a market valuation of $6.61 billion.

Stellar $XLM began to rise from a low of $0.172 on September 16, which coincided with a broader market rebound and the launch of the Adapter (Protocol 28) upgrade on Mainnet.

The Adapter upgrade launched on September 16 brought improvements including faster consensus, even under load; atomic upgrades for fleets of contracts; and a safer, standard way to migrate contract data.

P28's mainnet launch also brought performance gains to Stellar, allowing ledgers to close in about 5 seconds, down from about 5.7 seconds. Throughput rose 10–15% on mainnet, while a peak of 216.1 TPS was recorded across 100 consecutive blocks and up to 2x fewer instructions on some contract calls.

Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) Rally Pauses

Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) saw a strong surge earlier in the week after CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, announced that it will launch Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) futures on October 19, pending regulatory review.

The listing will enable market participants to trade larger and micro-sized contracts of Bitcoin Cash futures (250 $BCH) and Micro Bitcoin Cash futures (25 $BCH).

Before this news, Bitcoin Cash was rallying from a $213 low on September 16 to a $365 high on September 23, 2026, before bulls retreated.

At the time of writing, $BCH was down 4.53% in the last 24 hours to $331.