Ripple have always a similar growth pattern , the pump of course and then crouching to the level where he grew up and starts to grow again
Yes, it's almost kind of predictable...Another thing is, there are 1000 BTC clones but no Ripple clone. Ripples main asset is the gateways and that can't be replicated.
I only fear that Ripple could destroy itself from within, if R.Labs and/or some of the gateways would decide to impose restrictions on the free (as in "mostly anonymous") trading in the Ripple system, out of fear of regulators, aka the Shapeshift-suicide
I think any concern about Ripple not being decentralized enough does really mean this worst case scenario.