Why did the price of XLM go up?

Stellar (XLM) increased by 6.02% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the overall cryptocurrency market, which rose by 4.8%. This growth is driven by positive technical signals, rumors about a partnership with Visa, and excitement around its recent Protocol 23 upgrade.

1. Technical Breakout Signals – Indicators like MACD and RSI suggest growing momentum.
2. Visa Partnership Buzz – Unconfirmed reports hint at expanded collaboration on stablecoins.
3. Protocol 23 Upgrade – The latest network update improves scalability for decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world assets (RWAs).

Deep Dive

1. Technical Rebound (Positive Signs)

Overview: Stellar’s price bounced back from a key support level at $0.34, marked by its 200-day moving average. The MACD indicator turned positive after 12 days, and the RSI moved out of oversold territory, suggesting potential for further gains.

What this means: Traders likely took advantage of the oversold conditions, with buying boosted by Bitcoin’s 4.8% market rally. The 28.8% increase in XLM’s trading volume ($223 million) shows renewed interest.

Key level to watch: If XLM closes above $0.30 (its high on November 9), it could aim for $0.33, a common retracement target based on Fibonacci analysis.

2. Visa Partnership Speculation (Potential Upside)

Overview: On November 9, social media posts suggested that Visa might expand its use of Stellar for stablecoin transactions, building on their existing PYUSD integration planned for 2025.

What this means: Although these reports are unconfirmed, Stellar’s partnerships with companies like MoneyGram and Franklin Templeton add credibility. If Visa gets involved, it could speed up institutional adoption of XLM as a bridge currency.

What to watch: Official announcements from Visa or the Stellar Development Foundation will be key to confirming this news.

3. Protocol 23 Upgrade (Mixed Outlook)

Overview: Stellar’s Protocol 23 upgrade, launched in September 2025, allows multiple smart contracts to run simultaneously. Developers are actively using this feature, with over 1 million contract calls daily.

What this means: While the upgrade itself isn’t brand new, recent growth in the ecosystem—such as $522 million in on-chain real-world assets—supports Stellar’s usefulness. However, XLM’s price remains about 70% below its all-time high from 2018, showing some ongoing doubts about its long-term value.

Conclusion

XLM’s recent price increase is driven by a mix of technical momentum and hopeful speculation about enterprise partnerships. However, its future depends on confirming partnership news and holding key support levels above $0.29.

Key question: Will Stellar leverage its compliance with ISO 20022 to attract central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects, or will competitors like Zcash, with a focus on privacy, continue to draw institutional interest?

What could affect the price of XLM?

Stellar’s price is balancing between growing technical strength and how widely it’s being used in the real world.

1. Protocol 23 Upgrade – Scheduled for Q3 2025, this update aims to make the network faster and support more decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, which could boost the price.
2. Institutional Adoption – Partnerships with companies like Visa and Franklin Templeton, plus stablecoin integrations, add real-world use but face competition.
3. Technical Price Patterns – Stellar’s price has been moving within a tight range since 2018, suggesting a big move is coming—either up to $1.52 or down, meaning volatility is expected.

Deep Dive

1. Protocol 23 Upgrade (Positive Outlook)

What’s happening:
The Protocol 23 upgrade, planned for the third quarter of 2025, will introduce parallel processing for Soroban smart contracts. This means Stellar can handle up to 5,000 transactions per second (TPS) and lower fees, making it faster and cheaper to use. Since Soroban launched in 2024, smart contract activity on Stellar has already jumped by 700%.

Why it matters:
Better speed and lower costs can attract more developers and businesses to build on Stellar, increasing demand for XLM tokens. Similar upgrades on other networks, like Ethereum’s “London” fork, have led to price increases, so this could be a strong positive signal for Stellar.

2. Institutional Partnerships and Competition (Mixed Outlook)

What’s happening:
Stellar has teamed up with big names like Visa for cross-border payments and Franklin Templeton, which is using Stellar to manage $445 million in tokenized assets. Stablecoins like PayPal’s PYUSD also run on Stellar, showing practical use. However, privacy-focused coins like Zcash have recently surpassed Stellar in market value, and Ripple’s XRP remains a close competitor in payment solutions.

Why it matters:
While these partnerships show Stellar’s growing real-world use, competition from privacy coins and faster networks like Solana could pull investors away. Still, Stellar’s developer community grew by 37% in Q3 2025, showing strong ongoing interest.

3. Price Patterns and Market Mood (Expect Volatility)

What’s happening:
Since 2018, Stellar’s price has been moving within a symmetrical triangle pattern, with resistance around $0.62 and support near $0.10. Breaking above $0.62 could push the price up to $1.52, a 446% increase. But if it falls below support, it could drop to about $0.15. Current technical indicators like RSI (44.1) and MACD suggest the market is neutral right now.

Why it matters:
This long period of price consolidation is similar to what happened with XRP before its big 2025 price jump. However, Bitcoin still dominates the market with 59% share, and overall market fear is relatively high (Fear Index at 29/100), which might slow down gains in smaller coins like Stellar. Watch the $0.28–$0.31 price range closely—closing above this could confirm a bullish trend.

Conclusion

Stellar’s future price depends heavily on the success of the Protocol 23 upgrade and continued support from big institutions. However, it faces challenges from overall market conditions and competitors. Traders should keep an eye on the $0.62 resistance level and developer activity in Q3 2025. The big question remains: Will Stellar’s growing real-world use finally spark the breakout investors have been waiting for?

{{technical_analysis_coin_candle_chart}}

What are people saying about XLM?

The Stellar (XLM) community is currently balancing excitement about potential growth with caution over possible setbacks. Here’s what’s trending:

1. A veteran analyst predicts a $7.20 price target, sparking long-term optimism.
2. The upcoming Protocol 23 upgrade is stirring debate about whether it will improve scalability or trigger a “sell-the-news” reaction.
3. Traders are focused on the $0.40–$0.42 resistance level, which is proving tough to break.

Deep Dive

1. @ali_charts: $7.20 Target If Support Holds – Bullish

Peter Brandt, a well-known analyst, shared on July 17, 2025, that Stellar (XLM) could reach $7.20 if it stays above the key support level of $0.20 and breaks past $1.
View original post
What this means: This is an optimistic forecast that depends on XLM maintaining strong support and benefiting from continued interest from big players, like Franklin Templeton’s $445 million treasury tokenization project. However, reaching $7.20 would require a massive price increase of over 2,300%, which likely needs a strong and sustained crypto market rally.

2. @StellarOrg: Protocol 23 Upgrade – Mixed

Stellar’s official account announced that Protocol 23 will introduce parallel execution, boosting transaction speed to 5,000 transactions per second (TPS). The mainnet vote is scheduled for August 14, 2025.
View original post
What this means: This upgrade aims to improve how smart contracts run on the network, potentially making Stellar faster and more efficient. However, some traders are cautious, fearing a “sell-the-news” effect—where prices drop after a big announcement—similar to what happened with Ethereum after its Merge. Meanwhile, daily active users on the network have grown to 293,000 as of July 2025, showing real-world use is increasing.

3. @johnmorganFL: $0.40 Resistance Battle – Bearish

Trader John Morgan noted on August 18, 2025, that if Stellar falls below $0.402, it could continue a short-term correction down to $0.395.
View original post
What this means: Stellar has tried and failed three times in August to break above $0.42, indicating weakening buying pressure. With the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 48 (neutral) and funding rates showing no strong bias, the price range between $0.39 (support) and $0.42 (resistance) is critical for determining the next move.

Conclusion

The overall outlook on Stellar (XLM) is cautiously optimistic. Institutional interest and upcoming upgrades like Protocol 23, along with partnerships with payment companies like Visa and MoneyGram, strengthen its fundamentals. However, the $0.42–$0.45 price range remains a key hurdle. Keep an eye on the XLM/BTC ratio—if it breaks above 0.0000035 BTC (currently 0.0000031), it could signal a shift toward altcoin market strength.

{{technical_analysis_coin_candle_chart}}

What is the latest news about XLM?

Stellar is navigating some challenges and forming new partnerships while adapting to changes in the market. Here are the key updates:

1. Zcash Surpasses Stellar (November 9, 2025) – Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash has overtaken Stellar (XLM) in market value due to growing demand for private transactions.
2. XLM’s Potential for a Big Price Jump (November 9, 2025) – An analyst predicts that if XLM breaks out of a long-standing price pattern, it could rally by 446%.
3. Network Bug Fixed (November 8, 2025) – Stellar fixed a major bug in its smart contract system, which helped stabilize the network.

In-Depth Look

1. Zcash Surpasses Stellar (November 9, 2025)

What happened:
Zcash (ZEC) has moved ahead of Stellar (XLM) as the 14th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with ZEC valued at $9.41 billion compared to XLM’s $8.88 billion. This rise is largely due to a huge 1,100% increase in ZEC’s price this year. More users are making private transactions on Zcash, which use advanced technology to keep transfers confidential.

Why it matters:
This shift is a short-term challenge for Stellar, as investors are currently favoring privacy-focused coins like Zcash. However, Stellar is showing strong signs of growth with a 37% increase in developer activity and over 1 million daily uses of its smart contracts, indicating it has solid long-term potential. (CoinMarketCap)

2. XLM’s Potential for a Big Price Jump (November 9, 2025)

What happened:
XLM’s price has been stuck in a pattern called a symmetrical triangle for seven years, with resistance around $0.62 and support near $0.10. Analyst Aksel Kibar compares this to XRP’s big price jump earlier this year and suggests that if XLM breaks above $0.62, it could reach $1.52 — a 446% increase.

Why it matters:
Right now, this is just a possibility and not a certainty. If XLM breaks out, it could boost interest in altcoins (alternative cryptocurrencies). However, XLM’s price has dropped 70% from its all-time high in 2018 and fallen 33% in the last 90 days, showing that many investors remain cautious. (CoinMarketCap)

3. Network Bug Fixed (November 8, 2025)

What happened:
The Stellar Development Foundation fixed a serious bug in its Soroban smart contract platform that was causing network problems. After the fix, daily smart contract activity jumped by 700%, and XLM’s price stabilized following an 8.2% drop.

Why it matters:
This fix is a positive sign for Stellar’s reliability and shows the team’s ability to handle crises effectively. It also highlights Stellar’s growing use in business applications, even though short-term price swings remain. (CoinMarketCap)

Conclusion

Stellar is facing challenges from Zcash’s rise and some technical hurdles but is supported by strong developer growth and network improvements. The big question is whether recent upgrades to the protocol, launched in August 2025, will finally spark a major price breakout — or if changing regulations favoring privacy coins will reshape the market competition.

{{technical_analysis_coin_candle_chart}}

What is expected in the development of XLM?

Stellar is focusing on making its network faster, easier for businesses to use, and expanding decentralized finance (DeFi) options.

1. Protocol 23 Mainnet Upgrade (Q3 2025) – Boosts speed to 5,000 transactions per second and improves smart contract performance.
2. Freighter Wallet Mobile Launch (Q4 2025) – Adds features like fingerprint login and single-use wallets for safer, simpler payments.
3. Enterprise Payment Integrations (2026) – Plans partnerships with big names like Visa, PayPal, and aims to support tokenized assets for institutions.

Deep Dive

1. Protocol 23 Mainnet Upgrade (Q3 2025)

Overview:
The upcoming Protocol 23 upgrade, called Whisk, will allow Stellar to process many transactions at the same time and lower fees, reaching up to 5,000 transactions per second (The Defiant). It also improves Soroban smart contracts, making them faster and cheaper to use.

What this means:
This is good news for Stellar (XLM) because faster and cheaper transactions can attract more DeFi projects and businesses that want to tokenize real-world assets. Currently, Stellar already handles over $460 million in such tokenized assets (CoinJournal). However, there is a chance of delays or technical issues after the upgrade.

2. Freighter Wallet Mobile Launch (Q4 2025)

Overview:
The Freighter Wallet, Stellar’s digital wallet, will be available on mobile devices with new features like biometric login (fingerprint or face recognition) and single-use wallets to make crypto payments safer and easier for everyday users (NewsBTC).

What this means:
This update could encourage more people to use Stellar by making payments simpler and more secure. It’s a positive step but depends on how well it works with Stellar’s current system, including stablecoins like PYUSD.

3. Enterprise Payment Integrations (2026)

Overview:
Stellar aims to work more closely with major payment companies such as Visa, MoneyGram, and PayPal (which uses the PYUSD stablecoin) (DigitalG). The Blockchain Payments Consortium, which includes Stellar, is working to create standards for moving stablecoins across different blockchains.

What this means:
This is promising for the long term because it could increase the use of XLM in international payments and settlements. However, regulatory challenges around stablecoins could pose risks.

Conclusion

Stellar’s plan combines technical improvements with partnerships that bring real-world use cases. While there might be some price ups and downs in the short term, Stellar’s focus on meeting global payment standards (ISO 20022) and building payment infrastructure positions XLM as a key link between cryptocurrencies and traditional finance. Will Protocol 23’s speed boost help Stellar’s DeFi ecosystem compete with Ethereum? Keep an eye on Soroban’s total value locked (TVL) and stablecoin activity for signs.

{{technical_analysis_coin_candle_chart}}

What updates are there in the XLM code base?

Stellar’s latest updates focus on improving scalability, security, and tools for developers.

1. Protocol 23 Upgrade (Q3 2025) – Boosts transaction speed and smart contract efficiency.
2. Scalability Goals (2025 Roadmap) – Targets 5,000 transactions per second (TPS) using parallel processing.
3. Developer Tools (June 2025) – Introduced AI-powered tools to make development easier and safer.

Deep Dive

1. Protocol 23 Upgrade (Q3 2025)

Overview: In September 2025, Stellar launched Protocol 23 on its main network. This upgrade allows multiple transactions to be processed at the same time and improves how smart contracts run, making transactions faster and less expensive.

It also redesigned the way developers access data, combining asset and contract information into one interface for better real-time insights. Additionally, it strengthens network security by improving how the system agrees on transaction validity, helping prevent spam attacks.

Why it matters: Faster and cheaper transactions make Stellar (XLM) more attractive for decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and business uses like international payments. (Source)

2. Scalability Goals (2025 Roadmap)

Overview: Stellar plans to handle up to 5,000 transactions per second by enhancing its Soroban smart contract platform. This includes running tasks in parallel and compiling code ahead of time to speed things up.

The network also cut the time it takes to finalize transactions to 2.5 seconds, which is important for practical uses like payroll and turning assets into digital tokens. These improvements show Stellar’s shift from just building protocols to supporting real financial products.

Why it matters: While this may not immediately boost XLM’s price, it’s a positive sign for the future. Higher transaction capacity could help Stellar become a key player in business blockchain solutions. (Source)

3. Developer Tools (June 2025)

Overview: Stellar introduced AI-powered tools such as Contract Copilot, which helps create smart contracts, and Stella, an AI assistant that gathers knowledge to support developers.

The platform now uses OpenZeppelin’s audited security standards for tokens and real-world assets, reducing risks. The Freighter Wallet also added features like social media logins and multi-factor authentication to improve security and user experience.

Why it matters: Making development easier and safer encourages more projects to build on Stellar, especially those involving tokenized assets. This growth is good news for XLM. (Source)

Conclusion

Stellar’s recent upgrades focus on making the network faster, more secure, and easier for developers to use. These improvements support its goal of serving businesses and enabling real-world asset tokenization. While it’s still early to see the full impact of Protocol 23, Stellar is positioning itself as a strong option for institutional blockchain applications.

What to watch: Will Stellar’s increased transaction capacity lead to noticeable growth in stablecoin and real-world asset activity by early 2026?