Key Takeaways
XRP lost 4% as whales sold 470 million tokens, with liquidation clusters below $2.60 signaling downside risk. Institutions leaned bearish, while Chainlink’s rising adoption by Swift and JP Morgan eroded XRP’s case.
The crypto markets slumped sharply in the last 24 hours, with the total market cap slipping to $3.84 trillion. However, the daily trading volume rose to $186 billion, an 8% increase.
Ripple [XRP], the third largest by capitalization, fell 4% and risked deeper losses if broader markets failed to rebound.
Let’s unpack the signals behind XRP’s ongoing weakness.
XRP faces massive whale exodus
Per data from analyst Ali Martinez on X (formerly Twitter), big players were heavily dumping XRP tokens.
Over the last ten days, they liquidated more than 470 million XRP as the price hovered around $3.
The raid unloading came on the back of a broader market drop seen also in Bitcoin [BTC]. Notably, selling pressure stretched back to late July when XRP traded near $3.50.
Source: Ali Charts/X
The total exits during this stretch reached almost 1 billion tokens. As whales exited, price action mirrored the sell-off.
XRP selling pressure intensifies
The price action of XRP/USDT has been in a free fall since the $3.50 high. The altcoin has been making a series of lower highs and lows, a signal for bear strength.
The MACD confirmed building seller momentum, fueled by new shorts across derivatives markets.
Source: TradingView
Coinbase’s addition of perpetual futures for XRP and Solana [SOL] also drew in fresh U.S. short sellers, according to CEO Brian Armstrong.
Speaking of derivatives markets, the chart from Trading Different’s heatmap heightened the chances of a further drop. XRP was declining as it liquidated more longs below the price.
Per CoinGlass data, high-leverage shorts (50x–100x) clustered between $3.05 and $2.85, accelerating XRP’s fall.
Source: Trading Different
The largest liquidation pockets were stacked below $2.60, stretching toward $2 and even $1.80. In contrast, short positions clustered between $3.40 and $4.20.
Still, the bearish tone lingered.
Institutional appeal fades
Crowd and Smart Money sentiment jointly skewed negative, per Market Prophit. Institutional sentiment hit -5 versus retail’s -1.61, signaling strong bearish bias among larger players.
Still, XRP was losing its institutional appeal to Chainlink [LINK] as per Zach Rynes.
In an X interview, Chainlink advocate Zach Rynes noted that Swift and JP Morgan had opted for LINK, not XRP.
Affirming this, Zach Rynes said,
“XRP’s core product just has not seen meaningful traction with institutions. Chainlink looks just the clear winner in that regard.”
