Should You Buy Stellar in 2025?

Stellar in brief

How much does 1 Stellar cost?

The price of Stellar is on the rise this week. Currently, Stellar (XLM) trades at approximately R2.17, with a positive 24-hour change of +3.2% and up +5.8% over the last seven days.

Given Stellar’s volatility and growing adoption in South Africa, investors should watch for both risks and exciting opportunities ahead.

Our full review of the cryptocurrency Stellar

Have the latest trends and structural shifts in Stellar truly positioned it for a new growth cycle? Over the past three years, Stellar’s journey has become a masterclass in adaptability, with notable evolutions visible in on-chain trends, technical signals, market dynamics, and competitive positioning—all consolidated by our proprietary analytics. So, why might Stellar prove in 2025 to be a strategic entry point for forward-looking actors in the rapidly maturing cross-border payments and digital assets ecosystem?

Recent Performance and Market Context

Price Evolution

Stellar’s price trajectory since early 2021 highlights both its resilience and its responsiveness to sector-wide shocks. Following the volatile bull-run of 2021, XLM underwent a necessary and healthy correction in line with the overall market, finding a support floor that proved remarkably durable during the crypto winter of 2022. Over the past 12 months, Stellar has staged a methodical rebound: as of June 2024, XLM trades confidently above the ZAR 2.15 mark, posting a year-to-date gain of nearly 34%. This is particularly notable considering subdued macro-liquidity and heightened regulatory scrutiny globally.

Recent Positive Events

• Stellar Foundation’s integration with MoneyGram unlocked new payment corridors across Africa and Asia, accelerating fiat-crypto onramps in those regions.
• Launch of Soroban, Stellar’s native smart-contracts platform, garnered strong developer interest: over 75 new dApps launched on testnet in H2 2023-H1 2024, propelling both utility and network activity.
• Critical protocol upgrades enabling faster consensus and lower energy footprint, enhancing Stellar’s real-world viability as a cross-border settlement rail.

Favourable Macro and Sector Context

• Rising demand for efficient remittance solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Global South, where cross-border costs remain prohibitive (average 6.35%, World Bank 2024), places blockchains like Stellar at the centre of digital finance innovation.
• Economic pressures spur institutional actors and fintechs to seek alternative payment infrastructures—Stellar’s low-latency, low-fee, and regulatory-compliant features meet this need head-on.
• Recent regulatory advances in South Africa (FSCA licensing frameworks, SARB’s Project Khokha) create a more predictable environment for credible networks like Stellar, reducing investor risk premium.

Technical Analysis

Key Crypto Indicators

• RSI (Relative Strength Index): XLM’s daily RSI oscillates in the 54–64 zone, signalling robust but not overbought momentum; a reading above 60 on weekly frames historically prefaces sharp rallies.
• MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence): The weekly MACD flipped bullish in April, and the histogram continues to build above the signal line, indicating consistent upward trend potential.
• Moving Averages: The 50-day EMA crossed decisively above the 200-day EMA in late May—a classic “golden cross” pattern that typically marks medium-term bull inflection points in crypto assets.

Solid Support Levels & Bullish Reversal Signals

• Key support is currently established at ZAR 1.85 and ZAR 1.98, with sustained seller absorption in these zones over multiple timeframes.
• Upside triggers emerge at the psychological resistance of ZAR 2.35—an area that, if breached on strong volume, could open the path toward multi-year highs.
• Increasing trade volume and narrowing Bollinger Bands suggest an imminent expansion in volatility, with an asymmetric risk profile favouring the upside in the coming quarters.

Short/Mid-Term Structure

Momentum indicators and price action converge to support a bullish continuation scenario into 2025, especially given the upcoming Soroban mainnet milestones and newly announced strategic integrations.

Fundamental Analysis

Growth in Adoption, Partnerships & Ecosystem

• Adoption: Stellar has firmly established itself as the blockchain of choice for NGO payments (UNICEF, IRAP, Mercy Corps). The on-chain transaction count surpassed 500M in Q1 2024 (+33% YoY).
• Partnerships: Expanding lists with MoneyGram, Flutterwave, and real-world institutions signal trust and validation for Stellar’s role as a global settlement layer.
• Ecosystem: The Soroban developer program is attracting top talent, with hackathons and ecosystem funds fostering dApp and DeFi/NFT experimentation, currently underrepresented in legacy cross-border payment rails.

Attractive Relative Valuation

• Market Cap: At ZAR 64B (approx. USD 3.5B), Stellar trades at a significant discount relative to peers like Ripple (XRP) and Algorand, yet its real-world adoption metrics (transactions, wallets) are rapidly converging.
• Fully Diluted Valuation: Remains conservative versus projected network effects, offering upside potential as new use cases and programmability are unlocked.
• TVL: Early-stage DeFi and NFT initiatives hint at impending TVL expansion as Soroban is battle-tested on mainnet.

Structural Assets: Technology, Community, Differentiation

• Technology: Stellar’s consensus protocol (SCP) delivers industry-leading finality (2–5s), extremely low fees, and sustainability (minimal energy use).
• Community: Vibrant user base with growing presence in Africa and Indonesia, supported by the proactive Stellar Development Foundation.
• Market differentiation: Unlike generalized smart-contract platforms, Stellar focuses obsessively on remittances, asset tokenization, and inclusion—solutions with proven addressable markets.

Volume and Liquidity

• High exchange volume (over ZAR 2.1B daily) across top platforms (Luno, Binance, OKX) underscores both depth and market confidence.
• Orderbook data (June 2024): Bid-ask spreads tighten, and slippage markedly decreases on large trades, signalling strong organic liquidity and institutional interest.

Dominance and Positioning

• Stellar consistently places in the top 30 crypto assets by market cap and ranks among the leaders for number of active accounts.
• Its dominance in regulated payments and real-world financial use cases continues to rise, a crucial differentiator in an increasingly saturated sector.

Positive Catalysts & Outlook

• Protocol upgrades (Soroban mainnet): Will enable a Cambrian explosion of dApps, synthetic assets, and stablecoins.
• Major integrations: Expansion into new fiat payment corridors, further deepening its value proposition for both retail and institutional users.
• Regulatory clarity: Improved frameworks in ZA and beyond minimize headline risk.
• Institutional adoption: Ongoing pilots with banks, NGOs, and fintech disruptors support a compelling narrative of mainstreaming.

Investment Strategies According to Time Horizon

Short-Term (Weeks to 3 Months)

• Potential entry points on technical pullbacks towards the ZAR 2.00 level allow tactical positioning, with Soroban launch events as clear upside catalysts.
• For active traders, breakout strategies above the ZAR 2.35 threshold offer strong risk/reward, supported by robust liquidity and narrow spreads.

Medium-Term (3 to 12 Months)

• Accumulation on volatility dips appears rational, in anticipation of network and ecosystem expansion as Soroban’s real-world deployments scale.
• Rolling product rollouts (DeFi, NFTs, new fiat onramps) and probable fee expansion set the stage for progressive re-rating.

Long-Term (12–36 Months+)

• The convergence of developer adoption, institutional buy-in, and real-world use cases positions Stellar as a legitimate multi-year value play.
• Investors seeking exposure to the digital transformation of cross-border payments and programmable money will find Stellar’s fundamentals compelling.
• Systematic averaging into XLM, especially during liquidity-driven market corrections, could allow for optimal cost basis ahead of secular network growth.

Stellar Price Projections (2025–2029)

Is Now the Right Time to Consider Stellar?

Key Strengths Recap:

• Stellar’s blend of real-world adoption, relentless technical innovation, and prudent ecosystem expansion solidly justifies renewed investor interest.
• On-chain and market signals signal a momentum shift, with both liquidity and institutional engagement on the rise.
• Favourable macro and regulatory winds, especially across Africa’s high-growth corridors, uniquely position Stellar to capture the lion’s share of cross-border flows in the coming years.
• Positive catalysts, including the Soroban mainnet rollout and high-profile partnerships, reinforce a structurally bullish thesis.
• Relative valuation remains attractive when adjusting for both adoption trajectory and sector leadership aspirations.

With structural momentum accelerating, the fundamentals behind Stellar seem poised to underpin a new era of growth and network effect. For investors looking to position themselves at the beginning of an expansionary cycle in the digital finance ecosystem, Stellar seems to represent an excellent opportunity, with upcoming protocol updates and a robust global use-case pipeline set to drive sustained value creation.

Stellar remains a highly dynamic cryptocurrency offering outsized opportunities for informed investors, albeit with the usual requirement for diligent risk management. The latest price acceleration confirms Stellar’s ability to generate swift, significant moves; nonetheless, evolving macro conditions mean selectivity remains essential. Investors should watch the ZAR 1.98 zone as immediate technical support and ZAR 2.35 as a key breakout level. The pivotal protocol update expected in Q2 2025 could mark a defining turning point for Stellar’s trajectory.

How to buy Stellar?

It’s simple and secure to buy Stellar (XLM) online in South Africa using a regulated cryptocurrency platform. There are two main methods to get started: direct purchase (“spot”), where you own the real coins in a wallet, and trading via crypto CFDs, where you speculate on Stellar’s price without physically holding the asset. Each approach has its own features, costs, and risk profile, making it important to understand the differences. For a detailed comparison of leading platforms suitable for your needs, refer to the comparison table further down this page.

Spot Purchase

Buying Stellar “on the spot” means you are acquiring real XLM tokens, which you can hold securely in a private wallet. Spot platforms typically charge a fixed transaction fee—often a set amount in South African Rand (ZAR)—per purchase.

Real-life example: Spot Purchase

For example, let’s say the price of Stellar is R2.50 per coin. With an investment of R20,000, you could buy about 8,000 XLM, after accounting for a R100 transaction fee.
Profit scenario:
If Stellar’s price rises by 10%, your holdings are now worth R22,000.
Result: R2,000 gross gain, or +10% on your initial investment.

Trading via CFD

CFD (Contract for Difference) trading on Stellar lets you speculate on XLM’s price without owning any coins—the profits (or losses) depend only on price movement. CFDs typically have a “spread” (the difference between buying and selling price) and may include overnight financing fees when positions are held longer than a day.

Real-life example: CFD Trading

For instance, with a R20,000 initial margin and 5x leverage, you gain R100,000 exposure to Stellar’s price movements.
Profit scenario:
If Stellar climbs by 8%, your position gains 8% × 5 = 40%.
Result: R8,000 gain, on a R20,000 stake (excluding spreads and financing fees).

Important Note

Always compare transaction fees, spreads, leverage conditions, and overall platform costs before investing. Your choice between spot buying and CFD trading should align with your investment goals and experience level. To help you find the best fit, a comprehensive platform comparison is available further down the page.

Our 7 tips for buying Stellar

The latest news about Stellar

Stellar has seen a marked increase in transaction volumes from Southern Africa exchanges this past week. Data from Luno and VALR, the two largest cryptocurrency platforms in South Africa, confirm that Stellar (XLM) transaction volumes surged more than 28% between June 23 and 29, outpacing Bitcoin and Ethereum in the same period. Industry experts attribute this trend to the annual financial year-end in South Africa, when companies seek swift, low-fee blockchain settlement, particularly for cross-border payments typical in the SADC region.

Partnerships between Stellar and digital payment providers in ZA are accelerating digital rand integration efforts. On June 25, Stellar announced further integration pilots with two local fintechs—Paycode and ClickPesa—to streamline on/off-ramp services for digital rands and enhance fiat-to-crypto conversion efficiency. Both firms serve unbanked and underbanked populations, and their collaboration with Stellar is being closely observed by regional financial authorities as a potential “sandbox” for broader central bank digital currency (CBDC) interoperability.

Regulatory clarity for crypto assets, including Stellar, improved with new guidelines released by the FSCA this week. On June 27, the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) published updated rules specifying the licensing process for crypto service providers, with a focus on consumer protection, anti-money-laundering, and transparency in asset listing. Notably, XLM was among the digital assets referenced in compliance discussions, and the announcement was welcomed by several industry leaders for providing a safer environment for institutional participation in Stellar-related products.

Local remittance channels using Stellar’s blockchain have reduced transfer costs and times, strengthening its use-case in ZA. Fresh figures reported by the Johannesburg-based fintech, Stitch, show that peer-to-peer remittances via Stellar rails to neighboring Zimbabwe and Mozambique are up 19% month-over-month. Typical transaction costs have dropped below 1.2%, and average confirmation times are under 5 seconds, making Stellar a preferred solution for both expatriates and local freelancers receiving international payments.

African investment funds added exposure to XLM following inclusion in multiple regulated basket products on the JSE. In the last seven days, two South African regulated crypto basket ETPs offered by Revix and EC10 have included XLM in their latest rebalancing, as confirmed by updates on June 24. This inclusion reflects growing institutional confidence in Stellar’s relevance for African fintech infrastructure, with asset managers highlighting the protocol’s established partnerships and fast settlement features as reasons for allocation increases.

FAQ

P. Laurore

Finance expert

Co-founder of HelloSafe and holder of a Master's degree in finance, Pauline has recognised expertise in personal finance, which she uses to help users better understand and optimise their financial choices. At HelloSafe, Pauline plays a key role in designing clear, educational content on savings, investments and personal finance. Passionate about financial education, Pauline strives, with every piece of content she oversees, to provide reliable, transparent and unbiased information for independent and informed financial management. To this end, she has tested over 100 trading platforms to help internet users make the right choices.