Stellar XLM surges 10.5% as CoinDesk 20 drops 3.1%

Stellar (XLM) stood out as the lone gainer in Thursday's CoinDesk 20 update, jumping 10.5% while the broader index slid 3.1% to 1,961.44 — down 62.25 points from the 4 p.m. ET Wednesday close. Only one of the 20 tracked assets finished in positive territory.

The session's biggest losers were NEAR Protocol, off 12.2%, and Bitcoin Cash, down 12.1%, dragging the index lower alongside broad-based selling pressure. HBAR was the only other asset to limit its decline, falling just 1.7%.

XLM's outperformance against a sea of red is notable but isolated — the index's overall direction signals a risk-off session across the mid-cap crypto landscape rather than a broad rotation into any single asset class.