XRP short-term holders dominate sell-off as whales buy the dip
- XRP short-term holders dominated the selling activity during the recent market crash.
- XRP whales have been accumulating more tokens during the crash, adding over $1 billion worth of tokens.
- XRP could bounce off the lower boundary of a descending channel if it fails to hold the $1.96 support level.
Ripple's XRP is down 4% on Thursday as it struggles near the support at $2.12. Whales have been accumulating the recent selling pressure from short-term holders following the recent crypto market crash.
XRP whales soak up selling pressure from short-term holders
Short-term holders have spearheaded the recent selling activity in XRP following the recent market crash.
The Spent Coins Age Band, which shows the distribution of coins spent per day by the age of the tokens, provides clarity into the behavior of XRP holders. The data shows coins in the 1D to 7D and 90D to 180D cohorts dominated the selling activity.
 [02.33.54, 28 Feb, 2025]-638763048214787003.png)
XRP Spent Coins Age Band. Source: Santiment
Analyzing this trend with the Network Realized Profit/Loss metric shows that investors in the 1D to 7D cohort are aiming to cut losses by selling quickly, while those in the 90D to 180D group are quickly realizing profits before prices fall to their cost basis.
 [02.33.21, 28 Feb, 2025]-638763048785133948.png)
XRP Network Realized Profit/Loss. Source: Santiment
However, XRP whales have been buying the dip heavily since the market crashed on Monday. During the period, whales holding between 1M-10M XRP and 10M-100M XRP increased their collective holdings by 440M XRP, worth nearly $1 billion.
 [02.33.09, 28 Feb, 2025]-638763049754480442.png)
XRP Supply Distribution. Source: Santiment
Meanwhile, Ripple announced on Wednesday that it will expand its crypto custody services in South Korea through a partnership with institutional digital asset custody firm BDACS Korea. The platform will use Ripple Custody to help institutions secure their XRP and RLUSD stablecoin holdings.
The partnership aims to boost Ripple's foothold in South Korea — one of the largest XRP markets by geography — by supporting XRP Ledger developers, strengthening RLUSD's adoption and cooperating with Busan, the country's blockchain regulation-free zone.
XRP could bounce off a descending channel's support
XRP sustained $6.37 million in futures liquidations in the past 24 hours, per Coinglass data. The total amount of long and short liquidations accounted for $3.95 million and $2.42 million, respectively.
Since seeing a rejection near the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), XRP has struggled to find support near the $2.24 to $2.12 zone. This comes amid its long-term movement within a descending channel that extends from mid-January.
XRP/USDT 4-hour chart
If bearish pressure persists and XRP fails to hold the $1.96 critical level, it could find support near the lower boundary of the descending channel.
On the upside, XRP needs to sustain an extended move above the descending channel's upper boundary to flip the bearish trend.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Awesome Oscillator (AO) are below their neutral levels, indicating dominant bearish pressure.
Ripple FAQs
Ripple is a payments company that specializes in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology. RippleNet is a network used for payments transfer created by Ripple Labs Inc. and is open to financial institutions worldwide. The company also leverages the XRP token.
XRP is the native token of the decentralized blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used by Ripple Labs to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner. XRP therefore facilitates trustless and instant payments on the XRPLedger chain, helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.
XRPLedger is based on a distributed ledger technology and the blockchain using XRP to power transactions. The ledger is different from other blockchains as it has a built-in inflammatory protocol that helps fight spam and distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The XRPL is maintained by a peer-to-peer network known as the global XRP Ledger community.
XRP uses the interledger standard. This is a blockchain protocol that aids payments across different networks. For instance, XRP’s blockchain can connect the ledgers of two or more banks. This effectively removes intermediaries and the need for centralization in the system. XRP acts as the native token of the XRPLedger blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz.
Author
Michael Ebiekutan
FXStreet
With a deep passion for web3 technology, he's collaborated with industry-leading brands like Mara, ITAK, and FXStreet in delivering groundbreaking reports on web3's transformative potential across diverse sectors. In addition to
