SKN | XRP Breaks Below $1 as Whales Accumulate Despite Weak ETF Demand

XRP has broken below the $1 level for the first time since late 2024, extending a decline that has seen the token lose more than 5% over the past 30 days and more than 3% over the past week. The move is notable because large XRP holders have continued accumulating even as institutional ETF demand has stalled and Binance trading data points to renewed selling pressure.

XRP Loses a Key Psychological Support Level

XRP briefly traded below $1 earlier this week, marking its first break beneath that level in more than a year. The decline has left XRP diverging from several other major cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana posting modest gains over the same monthly period while XRP recorded the second-steepest decline among the top 10 assets, according to the cited market data.

The weakness is also visible in the accompanying price chart, which shows XRP falling from above $1.10 in mid-July toward the $1 threshold by August 13. A sustained move below that level would change the market’s technical structure, while a recovery above $1 would indicate that buyers are attempting to reclaim the former psychological support.

Whales Continue to Accumulate During the Selloff

The most significant countertrend signal is coming from large holders. Santiment data cited in the report show that the number of wallets holding at least 1 million XRP increased by 32 over three months, even as XRP’s market value declined by double digits. That suggests some larger participants have been absorbing supply during the weakness rather than reducing exposure.

Exchange activity provides additional context. Binance deposit addresses reportedly declined by about 96% compared with monthly and quarterly norms, while inflows and outflows were 79% and 85% below their respective 90-day averages. The unusually low transfer activity suggests that the market is not experiencing a broad rush to move XRP onto exchanges for immediate selling.

ETF Demand Is No Longer Providing a Strong Institutional Bid

The accumulation signal becomes less decisive when compared with the behavior of XRP exchange-traded funds. Spot XRP ETFs recorded zero net flows in each of their last four sessions, while total August inflows reached only about $1 million through August 12. Weekly inflows also dropped to approximately $1.01 million for the week ended August 7, a roughly 93% decline from $14.86 million the previous week.

That slowdown matters because ETF demand provides a direct institutional channel for XRP exposure. Without persistent inflows, whale accumulation alone may not be sufficient to generate the sustained marginal demand needed to reverse a broader price trend.

Binance Traders Still Show Selling Pressure

Derivatives data point to another source of resistance. Binance’s taker buy/sell ratio fell to approximately 0.86, its lowest level since May, meaning executed sell orders exceeded executed buy orders. XRP’s cumulative volume delta was also around negative 4.15 million, indicating that aggressive market flows remained tilted toward sellers.

At the same time, network activity has not completely deteriorated. XRP active addresses averaged approximately 35,700 per day in August, compared with 26,400 in July, while August 11 was the busiest day since June 5. However, new address creation remained almost unchanged at about 2,260 per day, suggesting that existing users are transacting more without a comparable expansion in the user base.

Looking ahead, the $1 level becomes an important market test for XRP. A sustained recovery would require more than whale accumulation: renewed ETF inflows, improving Binance buying pressure and broader growth in new network participants would provide stronger confirmation that demand is returning. Until those signals improve, the divergence between large-holder accumulation and weak institutional and market-wide buying pressure suggests that XRP’s recovery remains unconfirmed.