Why XRP stays muted despite whale transfers and rising STH demand

Key Takeaways

Are XRP whales becoming more active?

XRP just recorded 716 whale transfers over $1 million, its highest spike in four months.

Are traders positioning for a bounce?

Maybe. Short-term holders are accumulating and derivatives remain stable.

Are Ripple [XRP] traders ready for a bounce?

Short-term holders accumulated during the recent drop, while XRP recorded its highest whale transaction count in four months. With derivatives positioning stable, confidence appeared to build beneath the surface.

Whale activity surges as STHs buy

XRP logged 716 whale transfers above $1 million – its busiest day in four months!

Recent data showed these spikes in large transactions arriving at a time when certain short-term holding cohorts are building exposure.

Glassnode’s HODL Waves chart showed a clear uptick in the 1-3 month and 1 week-1 month bands. It meant that capital has been rotating into XRP rather than long-term holders distributing.

Short-term wallets expanded their share of supply while whales returned aggressively to the network.

Derivatives stay calm despite spike

Building on this, XRP’s Derivatives market has been showing a notably restrained response.

Aggregated Open Interest (OI) has held steady around $1.30 billion over the past week, even as Spot-side volatility picked up. Funding Rates were marginally positive near 0.0057.

So there’s neither aggressive long-side leverage nor overcrowded shorts.

Put together, this meant that speculative traders were not behind the latest on-chain shifts. XRP’s recent activity is being led by Spot accumulation.

Price pressures persist

XRP’s daily chart showed the token struggling to break past key resistance levels. At press time, all major EMAs (the 20, 50, 100, and 200) were above spot price.

The latest candles were around $2.24, showing limited buying follow-through after last week’s brief rebound. Volume has also thinned compared to the early-November surge, so confidence is waning among traders.

Meanwhile, the RSI was near 41, keeping XRP in neutral-to-bearish territory; momentum remained muted.

Unless price can reclaim the $2.36-$2.50 EMA cluster, XRP’s near-term structure could mean continued consolidation or further downside.