XRP’s Relentless Slide: Bearish Momentum Deepens as Institutional Demand Evaporates

If you’re looking for a poster child for how fast sentiment can sour in crypto, look no further than XRP. The asset that once teased a breakout above $2 is now clinging to support levels like a meme stock on margin call day. In the last 24 hours, XRP slipped below $1.60, and the price action is less a gentle correction and more a controlled demolition. The real story isn’t just the price drop, it’s the vanishing act of institutional demand and the sudden silence from the “utility” crowd.

The latest Cointelegraph report doesn’t mince words: XRP’s chart looks like a warning sign, not a buying opportunity. Open interest is down, volume is anemic, and the once-frenzied derivatives market has turned into a ghost town. The technicals are ugly. The fundamentals are worse. And the narrative, the idea that XRP would bridge the gap between Wall Street and DeFi, isn’t just on pause, it’s in reverse.

Here’s what’s changed. In January, XRP was riding high on Ripple’s institutional partnerships and a new wave of DeFi integrations. Prime brokerage deals, cross-border payment hype, and a handful of bullish analysts kept the dream alive. But as February dawned, the cracks became impossible to ignore. Open interest in XRP perpetuals has cratered by more than 35% since mid-January, according to Coinalyze. Spot volume on Binance and Coinbase is down double digits week over week. And the “bullish holder tiers” touted by DailyCoin are cold comfort when the top 10% of wallets are dumping into every rally.

The macro backdrop isn’t helping. Risk appetite across crypto has evaporated as Bitcoin’s own rally stalls out. The K33 report warning of “cycle anxiety” is reverberating through the altcoin complex, and XRP is feeling the heat. With Solana’s nosedive and Ethereum’s lethargy, there’s no sector rotation to bail out XRP. Instead, we’re seeing a classic capitulation: leveraged longs getting liquidated, and spot buyers refusing to catch the falling knife.

For context, XRP’s current price action is the worst since the post-SEC settlement hangover in late 2024. Back then, the market shrugged off regulatory clarity and focused on the fact that utility adoption was slow and the token’s inflation schedule was relentless. Fast forward to 2026, and the same issues are back in focus. The DeFi narrative has lost steam, and Ripple’s institutional push is running into the same wall: real-world usage is still a rounding error compared to the hype.

The technicals are a train wreck. XRP has broken below the 200-day moving average for the first time since early 2025. RSI is in the mid-30s, but there’s no sign of a reversal. Support at $1.50 is now the last line of defense before a potential flush to $1.22, the level flagged by Cointelegraph as the next major demand zone. If that breaks, we’re looking at a round trip to the pre-bull market lows.

Strykr Watch

The only thing more fragile than XRP’s price is trader sentiment. The $1.50 level is the line in the sand, lose that, and the next real support isn’t until $1.22. Resistance is stacked at $1.60 and $1.68, with every bounce getting sold into by bagholders desperate to exit. The 50-day moving average is rolling over, and the 200-day is accelerating to the downside. RSI at 34 suggests we’re oversold, but in crypto, oversold can stay oversold for a long time. Watch for a spike in volume or a short squeeze as the only real catalysts for a reversal.

The bear case is simple: as long as open interest keeps dropping and spot volume stays weak, every rally is a trap. The bull case? There isn’t one, at least not until we see a capitulation wick or a genuine pickup in institutional flows. Until then, the path of least resistance is down.

The risks here are obvious. A break below $1.50 opens the door to a waterfall selloff, especially if Bitcoin loses its own support at $95,000. Regulatory headlines could add fuel to the fire, and any sign of Ripple scaling back its DeFi ambitions would be a death knell for the “utility” narrative. On the flip side, a sudden risk-on move in crypto could spark a face-ripping short squeeze, but that’s a low-probability event as long as the macro backdrop stays risk-averse.

For traders, the only real opportunity is to fade the dead cat bounces. Shorting rallies into resistance at $1.60 or $1.68 with tight stops is the high-probability play. Aggressive bulls can try to knife-catch at $1.22, but that’s a hero trade, not a strategy. The real money will be made waiting for a capitulation move and then buying the blood.

Strykr Take

This isn’t just another crypto correction. It’s a regime change. The days of easy money in XRP are over, and the market is finally pricing in the reality that “institutional adoption” isn’t a catalyst, it’s a mirage. Until we see real volume, real demand, and real utility, XRP is dead money. For now, the only thing worth watching is how fast the bottom falls out.

datePublished: 2026-02-04