Regarding the recent XCP price drop, we want to start by saying that the Counterparty team has been silent on this because we do not engage in price speculation, as a policy. As others have noted, XCP is still a rather young, small and illiquid market, that is as of yet not trading on what most would consider a “major” exchange. Therefore, larger purchases and sales of XCP can and oftentimes do push the price up or down by quite a large amount.
 
Other markets, such as the physical gold market, and BTC (e.g. via Second Market, Coinfloor, etc)  oftentimes have OTC markets (i.e. off-exchange markets) where interested buyers and significant holders may advertise their desire to buy or sell larger lots, in a manner that does not directly affect the market price. We are in the process of working with certain industry partners to see if such an offering could be reality for XCP. If this materializes, it should hopefully help to stabilize the price, while making it possible for larger positions in XCP to be entered into or exited in a more controlled fashion.