* XRP slips towards $2.70 as whales and institutions fuel heavy selling.
* Ripple’s tech progress contrasts with short-term bearish pressure.
* Fed caution and rising yields have dampened the crypto market sentiment.
The past week has brought turbulence for XRP as the token struggles to defend key levels in the face of a weakening crypto market.
Once seen as one of the strongest performers of 2025, XRP is now under pressure, leaving many wondering whether the latest decline is a temporary setback or the start of a deeper slide.
Bearish pressure mounts below $3
XRP has failed to hold above the $3.00 level, a psychological threshold that traders had hoped would serve as a springboard for further gains.
Heavy liquidations across the broader market, combined with profit-taking near resistance, dragged the token down to the $2.80 zone.
Recently, it has slipped further, touching lows of $2.75 after a 6% drop in a single day, coinciding with Bitcoin’s fall below $109,000 that triggered a chain reaction across altcoins, including Ethereum, which has tumbled around 8% to $3,800.
Institutions and whales weigh in
Behind the price drop lies a wave of institutional selling and large whale movements that have shaken sentiment.
Roughly $277 million worth of XRP have changed hands in a short span, with reports indicating that whales moved nearly 160 million tokens — worth close to half a billion dollars — in mid-September.
These moves have added to the selling pressure, wiping nearly $19 billion off XRP’s market value within a week and breaking the momentum that had carried it above $3 earlier in the month.
Economic headwinds add to the strain
The challenges facing XRP are not just internal.
Wider economic factors have also played a role in the token’s decline.
Comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, warning that inflation remains a concern and that significant interest rate cuts are unlikely, dampened risk appetite.
Rising Treasury yields have made investors more cautious, diverting attention away from riskier assets such as cryptocurrencies.
This backdrop has made it harder for even promising developments within Ripple’s ecosystem to translate into price gains.
Ripple has been busy rolling out new projects, including the launch of its stablecoin RLUSD, the integration of an Ethereum-compatible sidechain, and the steady growth of wallets on the XRP Ledger, which now exceeds seven million.
While these steps strengthen the network’s foundation, they are yet to counterbalance the weight of market-wide pessimism.
Eyes on the $2.70 support
For now, eyes are on whether XRP can hold above the $2.75 threshold, with $2.70 emerging as the next critical support level.
From a technical analysis standpoint, the token is trading below its 30-day moving average of $2.93, signalling that sellers remain in control.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has dropped below 38, nearing oversold territory.
The MACD has also turned bearish, further amplifying the bearish momentum.
A deeper dip could extend losses, but a bounce from these levels may suggest selling exhaustion and open the door to a short-term recovery.
The next steps will likely depend on Bitcoin’s performance, as a $23 billion options expiry looms large and promises to add volatility to the entire crypto sector.
Should Bitcoin stabilise, XRP may find room to climb back above $3, restoring some momentum. If not, the slide toward $2.70 and potentially lower remains a distinct possibility.
