- XRP tumbles toward $2.70 as whales and institutions drive heavy selling.
- Ripple’s technical progress contrasts with short-term bearish pressure.
- Fed caution and rising interest rates have dampened crypto market sentiment.
The past week has brought turbulence for XRP as the token struggles to defend key levels amid a weakened crypto market.
Once considered one of 2025’s top performers, XRP is now under pressure, prompting questions about whether the recent decline is a temporary setback or the start of a deeper correction.
Bearish pressure rises below $3
XRP has failed to hold above the $3.00 mark, a psychological level traders hoped would serve as a springboard for further gains.
Large-scale liquidations across the broader market, combined with profit-taking near resistance, pushed the token down into the $2.80 range.
It recently slipped further, bottoming around $2.75 after a one-day drop of roughly 6%, a move that coincided with Bitcoin’s fall below $109,000 and triggered a chain reaction across altcoins, including Ethereum, which declined about 8% to roughly $3,800.
Institutions and whales weigh in
Behind the price drop lies a wave of institutional selling and large whale movements that unsettled market sentiment.
Approximately $277 million worth of XRP changed hands in a short period, with reports indicating whales moved nearly 160 million tokens — worth close to half a billion dollars — in mid-September.
Those transfers intensified selling pressure, erasing almost $19 billion from XRP’s market capitalization within a week and breaking the momentum that had pushed it above $3 earlier in the month.
Economic headwinds add strain
XRP’s challenges are not purely internal.
Broader economic factors have also contributed to the token’s decline.
Comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warning that inflation remains a concern and that significant rate cuts are unlikely have dampened risk appetite.
Rising government bond yields have made investors more cautious, diverting attention from riskier assets like cryptocurrencies.
Against this backdrop, even promising developments within Ripple’s ecosystem have struggled to translate into price gains.
Ripple has been active with new initiatives, including the launch of its RLUSD stablecoin, the integration of an Ethereum-compatible sidechain, and steady growth in wallets on the XRP Ledger, which now exceed seven million.
While these moves strengthen the network’s fundamentals, they have yet to offset the prevailing market pessimism.
Eyes on $2.70 support
For now, attention is focused on whether XRP can hold the $2.75 threshold, with $2.70 the next critical support level.
From a technical perspective, the token is trading below its 30-day moving average of $2.93, signaling sellers remain in control.
XRP price analysis | Source: CoinMarketCap
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has fallen below 38 and is approaching oversold territory.
MACD has also turned bearish, reinforcing the downward momentum.
A deeper drop could extend losses, while a rebound from current levels might indicate selling exhaustion and open the door for a short-term recovery.
The next moves will likely depend on Bitcoin’s performance, with $23 billion worth of options set to expire and adding potential volatility to the entire crypto sector.
If Bitcoin stabilizes, XRP could find room to climb back above $3 and regain some momentum. If not, there remains a clear risk of sliding toward $2.70 and possibly lower.