XRP Price Struggles: Understanding the Current Market Downturn
The XRP token is facing renewed pressure as the broader market downturn impacts its profitability metrics, pushing them back to levels last seen during Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024. According to Glassnode data, only 58.5% of the circulating XRP supply is currently making profits, which is the weakest value since the end of November 2024, when the token hovered around $0.53. This translates to about 41.5% of all XRP in circulation, equivalent to almost 26.5 billion tokens, being held at a realized loss, even at today’s price of about $2.15.
XRP’s supply in profit (Source: Glassnode)
The imbalance in XRP’s supply profitability reflects how much of this year’s trading volume was concentrated near elevated price zones, leaving late buyers unprotected as momentum slows. As CryptoSlate data indicates, XRP has fallen 12% over the past six months and is trading 40% below its July cycle high of $3.65.
Causes of XRP’s Problems
Derivatives activity, particularly, has reinforced cautious sentiment in the market. Data from CoinGlass shows that open interest in XRP futures has plummeted to about $3.8 billion, down significantly from nearly $10 billion earlier this year. Open interest reflects the value of active futures contracts, and lower levels typically indicate that speculative demand is waning and traders are retreating from directional bets.
XRP open interest since the beginning of the year (Source: CoinGlass)
This explains why XRP price growth has stalled significantly since its post-election surge, with the price moving mostly sideways in a narrow range around $2.10, disappointing traders who had expected a continuation above this level. Additionally, long-term holders have increased their profit-taking, with Glassnode noting that investors who accumulated XRP below $1 before the run in late 2024 are now liquidating their positions at a rapid pace.
Profit-Taking and Its Impact
According to Glassnode, this cohort’s profit realization activity has increased 240% since September, from about $65 million per day to nearly $220 million. This significant increase in profit-taking by long-term holders contributes to the current market pressure on XRP.
Profit taking by long-term holders of XRP (Source: Glassnode)
Strong Fundamentals Despite Short-Term Weakness
Despite the short-term weakness, XRP’s underlying fundamentals remain intact. At the beginning of the year, Ripple settled its multi-year dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission through a settlement after several positive rulings. Furthermore, Ripple’s recent $500 million capital raise, strategic acquisitions, and several partnerships strengthen the company’s product range and expand its global footprint.
Market analysts view these developments as supportive of the long-term positioning of the asset, as they build the ecosystem based on the token. Additionally, institutional interest in digital assets continues to grow, with several spot XRP ETFs launched in November 2025, including products from Franklin Templeton, Bitwise, 21Shares, and CoinShares.
Daily inflows of the XRP ETF (Source: SoSoValue)
Signs of Potential Recovery
Blockchain analytics platform Santiment noted that XRP remains a key topic across social platforms, with discussions focused on ETF launches, market volatility, and the token’s positioning compared to other major cryptocurrencies. The company also cited recent retail sales as evidence of an impending price recovery, finding that wallets with less than 100 XRP have sold 1.38% of their balance since the beginning of November. Retail capitulation is often preceded by a recovery, and analysts view this trend as a possible sign of recovery.
Dumping XRP traders (Source: Santiment)
For more information on XRP’s current market situation and its potential for recovery, visit https://cryptoslate.com/why-26-5-billion-xrp-tokens-are-now-sitting-at-a-loss-despite-a-2-price-tag/
