XRP breaks above $1.15 as whale accumulation fuels 4% rally

XRP's breakout above a trend line resistance is backed by whale accumulation and rising volumes, but weak spot ETF flows and elevated leverage threaten the move's durability.

XRP rose 4% to $1.15, breaking above a trend line resistance that had capped gains since mid-July, as whale accumulation and a 37% surge in trading volume supported the advance.

"The breakout is supported by genuine accumulation from large wallets, but the derivatives market tells a different story," Rachel Lin, CEO of derivatives exchange Synfutures, said. "Open interest is climbing faster than spot volume, which historically precedes sharp corrections."

Short liquidations across the crypto market reached nearly $200 million in the past 24 hours, driven primarily by Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to Coinglass data. XRP's trading volume rose to account for at least 2% of its circulating market cap, a level that has historically accompanied sustained rallies. However, spot ETF flows remain weak, with no XRP-specific products seeing meaningful inflows.

The conflicting signals leave XRP vulnerable to a sharp pullback if leveraged positions unwind. The token's next major resistance sits at $1.28, a level not tested since March, while support at $1.05 must hold to prevent a retest of the $0.95 zone.

Ripple's expanding institutional footprint provides a fundamental backdrop for the move. The company has been testing a multi-layered redemption system alongside JPMorgan, Mastercard and Ondo Finance that moves money in and out of the blockchain, according to a May announcement. The test used Ondo's USD-pegged stablecoin on the XRP Ledger, routed through Mastercard's Multi-Token Network into JPMorgan's banking systems. If successful, the system could position the XRP Ledger as the on-chain infrastructure for processing tokenized fund redemptions globally.

Ripple's native stablecoin, Ripple USD, has grown its circulating market cap to $1.6 billion, ranking 12th among stablecoins, according to DefiLlama data. That represents roughly 32x growth since its launch 19 months ago, as Ripple secured licenses across multiple jurisdictions to facilitate enterprise payments.

Despite these developments, social sentiment toward XRP has dropped to its lowest level since July 2024, according to Santiment. That period of depressed sentiment preceded a strong price rally after Donald Trump's election and a favorable ruling in Ripple's case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission. A similar trigger would be needed to sustain the current move, analysts said.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.