If we look at the period from the low of the last cycle to last year’s ATH, the BTC price pumped almost 8x. At the same time, the XRP price pumped x11 at its peak during the same period, which certainly exceeds BTC growth but is not enough to make XRP a more preferable asset than BTC from a long-term investment perspective.
Altcoins have higher growth potential due to their "unpredictability". I mean, Bitcoin is also unpredictable. But altcoins are worse. They're subject to higher fluctuations in market price. The same way you can make a lot of money with alts, you can also lose everything in an instant. XRP gives you good, short-term returns. I wouldn't trust it for the long term, because of its centralized design. There's always the risk of a single point of failure.
Ethereum, Monero, and Litecoin are better options, imo. The market recently turned bullish due to a weakening USD and other economic factors. Better buy prominent alts for long-term profits. If you held alts before the recent "pump", you'd consider yourself lucky. It's all a game of chance, anyways.
Altcoins do really have great potential for possible big upsides like gaining quick profit, but the downside for acquiring it is everything is so fast and unstable
Traders usually buy those coin could either hit a jackpot or maybe lose their capital. I also agree on your sample, since XRP is quiet questionable to handle. Knowing its semi centralized nature which make this coin risky to hold for long term.
If we point out the other alts you have mentioned like LTC, XMR and ETH they actually have sense to hold on for long term, if we compare it on XRP. But still what people also need to understand is if they choose to hold alts they are not safe for another huge risk. If they caught those pumps, maybe they can be called lucky. Timing really play big role when dealing with those alts.
