Decoding BNB’s strength as XRP loses ground in high-cap rankings

As the market heads toward 2026, investors are hunting for opportunities.Notably, Binance Coin [BNB] looked like it’s quietly building a solid base. Yearly, BNB has been up 27%, making it the only top-five high-cap still holding green while others continue to bleed capital.That divergence became clearer on a quarterly view. Despite the fourth quarter shaping up as 2025’s weakest, BNB still traded about 30% above its Q3 open.Source: TradingView (BNB/USDT)In short, Binance Coin held firm despite macro pressure across crypto markets.Against this backdrop, BNB overtaking Ripple [XRP] in market capitalization can’t be a fluke. For context, after pushing past $120 billion, BNB has officially flipped XRP, moving into the third-largest crypto spot.Notably, this move is starting to show up in the core technicals.Looking at the XRP/BNB chart, the ratio fell about 8.5% over the past month, sliding further from its July peak near 0.003. Capital rotation increasingly favored BNB.The key question: Can this momentum hold into 2026?BNB’s on-chain strength signals a shift in high-cap rankingsBinance Coin’s strength stood out as the broader altcoin market broke down.After a strong Q3 push that sent the Altcoin Season Index to 80, momentum has faded. Against this backdrop, BNB keeping its Q4 losses below 80% suggests investors are already positioning for a recovery.On-chain data is reinforcing this narrative. From a DeFi angle, Binance Smart Chain [BSC] has seen only a modest 9% dip in TVL, which stood near $6.86 billion at press time.By contrast, XRP’s DeFi activity was down 30% to just $68 million.Source: DeFiLlamaIn short, the widening TVL gap pointed to capital sticking with Binance Coin.Investors appear committed to the chain for the long haul, which helps explain why BNB’s strength versus XRP doesn’t look like a short-term blip, but rather the early stages of a reversal in crypto market rankings.As a result, 2026 increasingly resembled Binance Coin’s 2025 setup. A deeper slide in the XRP/BNB ratio could follow, keeping BNB positioned for stronger relative returns among high-cap assets.Final ThoughtsDespite a weak Q4 and broader altcoin losses, BNB remains up 27% annually and 30% above its Q3 open, showing resilience amid macro FUD. TVL on BSC is down just 9% versus XRP’s 30% decline, while the XRP/BNB ratio weakens, pointing to a potential long-term rotation and a high-cap ranking shift in 2026.