XRP’s Price Under Pressure, But “Whale” Wallets Continue to Grow
XRP has faced persistent selling pressure, mirroring the volatile trading seen across the broader cryptocurrency market. The digital asset has struggled throughout the summer, experiencing a decline of nearly 30% since mid-May.
Despite the downturn, large XRP holders, often referred to as “whales,” have continued to expand their holdings. Santiment’s latest analysis reveals that the number of wallets containing at least 1 million XRP has increased by 32 over the past three months, even as the market capitalization has fallen by 29%. Concurrently, Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, has emerged as a significant player in the institutional stablecoin space. The company’s existing payment, custody, and tokenization infrastructure also continues to anchor the XRP Ledger to settlement use cases.
Santiment suggests that the simultaneous rise in million-XRP wallets and a declining market cap indicates that stronger, long-term holders are absorbing market sell-offs. The analytics firm commented, “Patience is replacing simple price-related hype, and future volatility becomes more interesting for bulls.”
Looking at the broader market picture, XRP is currently in deeply oversold territory. Analyst Ali Martinez has noted the emergence of fresh buy signals. Earlier this week, Martinez reported that large investors had acquired over 380 million XRP units within a seven-day period, valued at approximately $400 million at the time. Such accumulation could potentially reduce the available supply on the market and provide price support if demand remains stable or increases. This activity could also attract smaller retail investors. The monthly TD Sequential indicator has also flashed a buy signal, a pattern that has historically preceded significant price rallies.
Meanwhile, market observer CR87 has identified XRP as being at a “critical level.” The price faces the risk of falling to the $0.50-$0.60 range if it fails to hold the $1.03 mark. Conversely, for bullish sentiment to take hold, reclaiming $1.47 would represent the initial sign of strength. Similarly, X user Diana has predicted further downside if the token breaks below the $1 level, with a potential target of $0.86. However, a strong rebound around the $1 mark, followed by a move back above $1.036, could temper the bearish outlook.
On the institutional front, U.S.-based spot XRP Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) saw substantial inflows totaling $1.17 billion between November and December 2025. However, this momentum has waned in recent months. These products attracted only $15.59 million in January. The following month, this figure nearly quadrupled to $58.09 million. March then recorded the first monthly outflow, amounting to $31.16 million.
Performance remained mixed from April to July 2026. The funds garnered $81.6 million in April and $132 million in May, following the CLARITY Act’s passage through the Senate Banking Committee. This slowed to $59.46 million in June and $27.29 million in July. As of early August, inflows have been minimal, totaling just $1 million.
