Stellar Lumens (XLM) has surged 59.13% over the past week, reaching $0.5173 as of July 18, 2025, outperforming major altcoins like Ethereum (+7.48% to $3,600.63), Solana (+5.16% to $170.96), and XRP (+5% to $3.05), per Coindoo.com and TradingView. Veteran trader Peter Brandt highlights a monthly inverse head-and-shoulders pattern, signaling a potential breakout above the $1 resistance, a level that has capped rallies since 2018, per Coindoo.com. Analyst Solberg Invest notes XLM’s break above $0.43, targeting $0.60 short-term if momentum persists. Trading volume spiked 211.2% to $1.66 billion in 24 hours, with open interest up 3.4% to $270.9 million, reflecting bullish leverage, per Coinalyze and Coindoo.com.
Stellar’s surge aligns with key developments. PayPal’s planned integration of its PYUSD stablecoin on the Stellar network, pending NYDFS approval, boosts confidence in XLM’s cross-border payment utility, per CoinDesk. The Protocol 23 upgrade, introducing smart contracts and parallel transaction processing, enhances scalability, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. Stellar’s Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi hit $122.4 million, a record high, per DeFiLlama. Posts on X underscore XLM’s outperformance over ETH, SOL, and XRP, driven by a golden cross (50-day EMA crossing above 200-day EMA) and rising open interest. Stellar’s 1.4 million active addresses and 74 million transactions in 30 days outpace Ethereum, per cryptoofficiel.com.
XLM’s rally coincides with a broader altcoin uptrend, fueled by Bitcoin’s recovery above $119,000 and Ethereum’s ETF inflows ($726 million daily). XRP’s correlation with XLM, driven by shared cross-border payment goals, supports its gains, with XRP up 2.43% to $2.95 amid Ripple’s SEC case optimism, per bitget.com. However, XLM’s lower market cap ($16.08 billion vs. XRP’s $32 billion) offers higher growth potential, per 99bitcoins.com. The GENIUS Act’s passage bolsters stablecoin adoption, indirectly benefiting Stellar’s PYUSD integration, per Coincu.
Analysts project XLM could hit $0.5458 by August 15, 2025 (+18.15%), with a stretch target of $1.29 by year-end, per CoinCodex and Coinpedia. Long-term forecasts are bullish, with InvestingHaven predicting $2.5 by 2030 if adoption grows. However, risks include overbought RSI (62.51) and Bollinger Band overextension, suggesting a possible pullback to $0.37, per bitcoinethereumnews.com. Whale activity, regulatory delays for PYUSD, and competition from XRP, Ethereum, and Solana could cap gains, per blockchainmagazine.net. Investors should monitor support at $0.4650 and resistance at $0.681 via BitRss or posts on X for breakout confirmation.
