NO.2 or 3 does not matter much in these market condition honestly, because the gap between the two is very fragile and not substantial. Once there are new issues, then Ether will rebound aggressively. When the ICO market returns, Ether will quickly test $200.
In a way, it does not matter as soon as for most of the cryptocurrencies followers, Ethereum will be always the best altcoin. I do not think that centralized Ripple can seriously compete with it.