XRP Falls as Institutional Selling Hits Resistance, ETF Flows Remain Robust

Institutional activity surged on Wednesday, with flows jumping more than 50% above weekly averages, signaling strategic distribution rather than retail panic. XRP failed to break through the $2.09–$2.10 resistance zone, triggering a sharp pullback to the $2.00 psychological level and leaving price action compressed in a multi-week range. Meanwhile, ETF inflows quietly continued to tighten supply beneath the surface.

Key Takeaways

• XRP slipped from $2.09 to $2.00, down 4.3% on the session, underperforming the broader crypto market by about 1%.
• The rejection was decisive: a peak volume of 172.8 million tokens—205% above the daily average—occurred as XRP tagged $2.08, marking a failed breakout.
• Session volume ran 54% above the 7-day average, reflecting institutional selling rather than emotional retail dumping.
• Exchange balances dropped from 3.95 billion to 2.6 billion tokens over the past 60 days, compressing supply even as spot price struggled to hold above resistance. This divergence is creating an increasingly asymmetric structure as XRP trades within a narrowing multi-month triangle.

Market Background

• U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded over $170 million in weekly inflows, marking another week with no outflows.
• Heavy selling pressure continues to cap gains in the $2.09–$2.10 band, where XRP has now failed multiple times.
• Market makers had flagged rising distribution pressure above $2.10 ahead of Wednesday’s move.
• Exchange supply continues to decline, reinforcing long-term compression despite repeated breakout attempts.
• XRP lagged broader crypto, with the CD5 index down 3.1% on the day, indicating the selloff was token-specific rather than driven by macro factors.

Price Action Summary

• Intraday range: 5.4%, as resistance rejection triggered high-volatility unwind
• Volume: 172.8M peak at 19:00 UTC (205% above daily average)
• Resistance: Multiple rejections at $2.08–$2.10 forming a hard ceiling
• Late-session stabilization: Higher lows near $1.999–$2.005
• Relative performance: Lagged broader crypto by ~1%