XRP has been flying high for months, but it seems the wind in its sails is starting to die down. After more than tripling in value since late 2024, the crypto heavyweight is now hitting a brick wall just shy of the $3 mark — a psychological barrier that’s proving hard to crack.
Although Ripple has laid a solid foundation with legal clarity and expanding tech, the surface gloss doesn’t tell the whole story. Scratch beneath it, and the warning lights start to blink. Signs of fatigue are cropping up across the board, and XRP may be stuck in neutral — or worse, headed for a detour south.
XRP’s price analysis on TradingView
Engines Cooling on the Ledger
A healthy blockchain runs on activity, but XRP’s engine appears to be sputtering. “What was once a bustling hive of XRP activity has now gone quiet, with the network echoing like an empty hall. According to Glassnode, the number of fresh wallets popping up daily has nosedived — from over 15,000 earlier in the year to a mere 3,500.
The trend doesn’t stop there. Active wallets — those sending or receiving XRP each day — have also taken a hit. From a recent boom of more than half a million, activity has slumped to under 35,000.
That kind of slowdown suggests the crowd’s thinning out. Fewer hands on deck means less demand for transactions. Historically, when activity dries up, price tends to follow suit — and not in a direction bulls would like.
XRP is trading above $2, more than 3x higher than its base price before the sharp rally in November 2024.
Investors who accumulated earlier are sitting on over 300% gains.
In early June, they began realizing profits at a pace of $68.8M per day (7D-SMA), signaling a wave of… pic.twitter.com/N8DLs0EXpQ
— glassnode (@glassnode) June 19, 2025
Traders Exit as Futures Lose Their Spark
It’s not just casual users stepping away — traders are hitting the brakes too. Data from CoinGlass paints a clear picture: XRP’s open interest, which measures the total value tied up in futures contracts, has dropped like a stone. In just one month, it fell from $5.53 billion to $3.89 billion — a 30% slide.
That kind of pullback is a red flag. It shows traders are taking chips off the table, either locking in gains or ducking for cover. When market participants lose their appetite for risk, prices often stall or head downhill. We’ve seen this movie before — earlier in the year, a similar drop in open interest came right before XRP took a 50% dive.
In short, when the smart money starts packing up, it’s rarely a bullish sign.
Price Trapped in No Man’s Land
From a technical angle, XRP looks boxed in. The token has been bouncing between $2.05 and $2.33 for weeks, unable to punch through the overhead resistance near $2.40. That level is no coincidence — it lines up with a tangle of major moving averages, which are acting like a ceiling.
Unless buyers show up in full force, XRP may keep drifting sideways — or worse, slide down the slope. When price stays stuck beneath key averages, it often signals a breather or a pullback. Historically, XRP has tended to consolidate for a while before either bouncing or breaking lower.
A bearish cloud is forming on the charts, with a pattern shaping up that often signals the floor might give way. If the price slips below $2, it could open the door for a deeper correction, possibly dragging XRP down to $1.20 — a painful fall of over 40%.
CasiTrades, a market analyst, flagged $2.25 as a tough nut to crack. Without a breakout above that line, XRP could be staring down further dips, possibly revisiting $1.90 or even $1.55.
Early Birds Cash Out
Those who got in early aren’t just sitting on their hands — many are locking in their wins. Investors who loaded up when XRP was under 60 cents are now reaping the rewards, sitting on triple-digit returns.
Glassnode’s on-chain figures show that investors have started cashing in their chips, with profit-taking kicking into high gear. In one week alone, XRP holders booked $68.8 million in gains — the largest haul in over a year. That kind of selling spree tends to act like an anchor, making it harder for the price to climb higher.
Even though XRP is still trading above $2, the steady flow of sell orders suggests that bulls are running into heavy resistance every time they try to push ahead.
Its a matter of time before all the Whales see the value $XRP and the memes on @First_Ledger has! $LAUGH is going to be geared up and ready when that wave of volumes comes over! pic.twitter.com/1DGLO3DCcV
— LaughNowXRP (@LaughNowXRP) June 20, 2025
Altcoin Chill Dampens XRP’s Momentum
Zooming out, XRP’s struggles are just part of the bigger picture. The entire altcoin space is under the weather, despite Ripple’s forward strides and a clearer path in the legal arena.
CryptoQuant reports that the combined flow of funds into altcoins — excluding Bitcoin and Ethereum — has gone sharply negative. Since peaking in December 2024, net outflows have piled up to the tune of $36 billion.
Analyst Burak Kesmeci pointed out that, beyond a small pocket of tokens tied to real-world value, most altcoins are just treading water, unable to catch a break in the current market slump. The buzz that lit up late 2024 has dimmed, and most investors are waiting on the sidelines, playing it safe.
Image 2: XRP on phone (Source: Unsplash)
Some market veterans believe this lull could be the calm before the storm — possibly setting the stage for another monster rally, like XRP’s epic run in 2017. But for now, the firewood’s damp, and there’s no spark in sight.
Read Also: 3iQ Launches XRP ETF on Toronto Exchange with Ripple’s Support
With fewer users, traders backing off, technical barriers overhead, and sellers cashing out, XRP’s path to $3 looks uphill all the way. If support around $2 gives way, the next leg down could be steep — and it may be a while before the bulls find their footing again.
