- XRP price has sunk 40% since Trump’s inauguration.
- Retail hype for the Ripple-created cryptocurrency has fizzled out.
- Analysts say XRP needs a new narrative to attract buyers.
XRP traded just over $2 on Friday, a 40% price slump since Donald Trump’s inauguration, as a mounting trade war grips global markets.
Back then, the cryptocurrency was riding a wave of investor interest. The price slump is almost double that of Bitcoin’s downturn within the same period.
The Ripple-designed cryptocurrency has been dragged by the broader market slump ― one now exacerbated by Trump’s tariff barrage that threatens to fracture global trade.
With investors adopting a risk-off approach to markets, riskier assets like cryptocurrencies, including XRP, may take an even heavier hit in the coming months.
For the horde of XRP investors who jumped on the price surge bandwagon late last year, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Market data from Glassnode shows that XRP’s market value doubled to $64 billion in the last six months, largely driven by retail hype.
“However, this capital influx has started to slow down since February, signalling a potential cooling-off in speculative appetite,” noted Glassnode analysts.
Translation? Easy money is drying up, and XRP was a big hit with newcomers, many of whom are posting huge losses. With fewer buyers coming in, XRP is at risk of further declines unless a compelling new narrative emerges to spur interest.
Data from the crypto prediction market Kalshi shows bettors put the chance of XRP setting a new 2025 peak price at lower than 50%.
Short-term prospects for XRP are even bleaker, if prediction market data are anything to go by, with punters waging the cryptocurrency is unlikely to attain a new all-time high before the end of summer.
XRP’s sudden spike in December was indicative of retail-driven speculation rather than a structured inflow of demand, as was the case for Bitcoin, according to analysts at Glassnode, a crypto market data platform.
Some market observers say XRP exchange-traded funds might be the vehicle to attract big-money players.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing five XRP ETF applications. Those filings are among a flurry of altcoin ETFs under review, and the SEC has until mid-October to rule on them.
JPMorgan analysts predict that XRP ETFs could draw in $8 billion in flows in the first year, and 10% of that sum could come in the first week, according to virtual asset service provider Northstake.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, said last month that major issuers like BlackRock and Fidelity would surely be involved with XRP ETFs.
Bettors on Polymarket have priced the chances of the SEC approving XRP ETFs this year at 73%, down from the 87% peak on March 23.
Still, market observers are confident the SEC will give its nod for XRP ETFs.
Geraci said that an XRP ETF approval was “simply a matter of time.”
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
