XRP Drops Below $2 Despite Strong ETF Backing

Despite strong institutional demand and nearly a billion dollars injected into XRP ETFs, the token fell below the symbolic $2 threshold. While incoming flows multiply, the spot market remains under pressure. This divergence between fundamentals and price is striking. Why is XRP falling while major investors are buying? Between a bullish signal and technical fragility, the market seems divided. Such a situation complicates reading the upcoming trends.

Institutional demand accelerating

Over the past three weeks, spot ETFs backed by XRP have recorded an uninterrupted streak of 20 consecutive days of inflows, totaling 990.9 million dollars.

The Franklin XRP ETF (XRPZ) accounted for the majority of movements with 8.7 million dollars of inflows on Friday, December 13 alone, bringing its net assets to 175 million dollars. On the same date, the Bitwise XRP ETF (XRP) and the Canary XRP ETF (XRPC) also saw positive inflows, while products from Grayscale (GXRP) and 21Shares (TOXR) remained stagnant.

“Institutional demand for XRP is rapidly gaining strength,” commented analyst Bitcoinsensus on X, revealing the performance gap with other traditional crypto products.

This institutional dynamism sharply contrasts with the performance of other crypto ETFs at the same time :

• Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $49 million in inflows on the same day, five times less than XRP ETFs in cumulative value ;

• Spot Ethereum ETFs, meanwhile, experienced $19.4 million in outflows, reducing their total flows to $13.1 billion ;

• Total assets under management of XRP ETFs now exceed $1.2 billion, confirming growing interest from institutional investors ;

• This strong accumulation signal fuels expectations of a long-term bullish scenario for XRP, with some analysts mentioning a $10 target by 2026.

A price that collapses nonetheless : the breakdown of technical supports

In the spot market, the XRP price lost more than 11 % in ten days, falling below $2 for the second time since November 21.

Last Monday, the XRP/USDT pair started a new bearish phase, testing a daily liquidity block around $1.93. This level offers limited support. The URPD indicator (UTXO Realized Price Distribution), which maps the price levels at which tokens were acquired, shows low buyer density below $1.90, reducing the likelihood of a spontaneous short-term rebound.

If this zone is breached, attention turns to the technical support at $1.78, where 1.85 billion tokens have been accumulated. If this barrier were to yield, analysts believe XRP could move towards a critical zone between $1.61 and $1.40, the latter coinciding with the 200-week exponential moving average, often viewed as a major defense line.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI), sharply declining, currently shows its lowest level since July 2024, a clear signal of increasing selling pressure. Technical factors converge towards the hypothesis of a prolonged retreat, regardless of the dynamics observed on the crypto ETF side.

The market struggles to respond to signals from ETFs, casting doubt on XRP’s ability to regain its past momentum. Recall, XRP reached a historic high at $3.65, far from its current levels. It remains to be seen if institutional accumulation will eventually reverse the trend.