XRP may be setting up for another major move if a familiar historical pattern continues to play out. A widely followed market watcher recently shared this bullish outlook, projecting a run into the double-digit range.
Dom Kwok, co-founder of EasyA, has reiterated his long-term XRP price outlook, insisting it will reach four-digit figures. In a recent tweet, he said the years of work building around the XRP ecosystem are aimed at something far bigger than today’s prices.
The XRP community is buzzing with bullish price predictions after reports revealed that BlackRock is using Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as collateral for its tokenized funds. This adoption has sparked widespread discussions within the XRP community, seamlessly linking narratives of institutional involvement with technical analysis that highlights ambitious upside potential.
In the last week, Bitcoin suffered another correction wave with prices dropping to around $88,000 as the crypto market continues to face a weak investor appetite. While the premier cryptocurrency has experienced some slight relief, an approaching monthly close indicates the market is at a critical juncture that could define its price direction for February.
Bitcoin Market Weighs Rebalance Or Complete Breakdown
According to seasoned analyst KillaXBT, Bitcoin is heading into a pivotal monthly close next week, as recent price action suggests the market is approaching an inflection point. Notably, after sweeping external highs near $94,600 earlier in the month, BTC has since faced firm rejection, pushing price back toward the lower end of its recent range between $88,000-$90,000.
The rejection from these highs resulted in pronounced upper wicks on higher timeframes, a structure that often signals aggressive selling pressure. However, KillaXBT explains that such wicks are frequently partially or fully retraced, due to liquidity. With a full trading week still remaining before the monthly candle closes, the market analyst postulates that there are three primary scenarios that could determine price direction for February.
Firstly, Bitcoin could rise into the end of the month, allowing for a stronger monthly close. Under this scenario, February could begin with price forming the upper portion of the current wick, potentially revisiting the low-to-mid $90,000s before rolling over later in the month toward the $83,800 region.
In the second scenario, Bitcoin closes the month near current levels around $89,000, followed by an early-February move to hunt liquidity in the $91,000–$92,000 range before resuming a downward trend. Interestingly, both scenarios align with the idea that the market may first move higher to rebalance liquidity before resolving lower.
The third scenario presents a more severe outcome that aligns with a potential market breakdown. In this case, KillaXBT forecasts Bitcoin could retrace below the weekly and monthly open at $87,664 and close beneath this level before February. The analyst describes this scenario as “violently bearish”, as it increases the probability of a rapid move towards a lower support in the new month.
Notably, KillaXBT favors the first two scenarios, as the present sentiment being heavily bearish indicates that most investors are least expecting a move to the higher side. However, the analyst also emphasizes that the loss of $83,800 support in any scenario would significantly alter the outlook for any remaining long exposure.
Bitcoin Price Overview
At press time, Bitcoin trades at $89,645 following a minor 1.4% gain in the last day.
For years, XRP price performance has been a source of frustration for many investors. While the broader crypto market has cycled through hype-driven rallies, XRP has often moved more slowly, leading to repeated claims that it is underperforming or broken.
After six months of witnessing lower highs and lower lows amid a market downtrend, XRP has finally broken the bearish structure with a new higher high. XRP is gradually pushing toward new territories after months of a sustained downtrend.
A prominent wealth expert argues that XRP’s value goes far beyond price speculation, warning that those betting against the asset are likely to regret it. Although XRP plays a clear role in cross-border settlements, critics have often downplayed this utility and dismissed the token as just another speculative play.
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The total value of the tokenized RWA on the XRP Ledger has finally hit the $1 billion milestone amid a rapid expansion since the start of the year. While XRP and the broader crypto market have faced a roadblock to the earlier bullish momentum, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has continued to expand across multiple blockchains, and the XRP Ledger (XRPL) remains a major beneficiary of the growth.
As the market searches for direction, fresh price targets from industry figures are reviving discussions around how high major altcoins like XRP could realistically climb in the next bullish phase. Zia ul Haque, founder of Open4profit, recently shared his bullish crypto targets for 2026.
XRP has given back all of its early‑year gains, sliding toward the $1.90. Despite the pullback, several on‑chain and market indicators are pointing to a possible breakout from current levels, driven largely by a sharp decline in XRP held on exchanges.
XRP Exchange Balances Slide To 1.5B
Market analyst Sam Daodu notes that over the past months, a substantial portion of XRP has steadily moved off centralized trading platforms and into long‑term storage and institutional custody.
On‑chain figures indicate that XRP exchange balances dropped from roughly 4 billion tokens in early 2025 to about 1.5 billion by late December. This 57% decline represents the steepest annual reduction in XRP exchange supply on record.
Data from CryptoQuant reinforces this trend, showing shrinking XRP reserves on major trading platforms such as Binance, where balances continued to fall into early 2026. At the same time, wallet accumulation has increased, particularly among institutional custody accounts.
Daodu argues that with fewer tokens available on exchanges, buying pressure that previously moved XRP only marginally can now drive gains of 10% to 15% within days.
When combined with approximately $1.37 billion in XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows recorded since November 2025, Daodu believes the conditions favor a potential breakout toward the $4 to $5 range, rather than another rally that stalls below $3.
Bullish, Base, And Bearish Scenarios
Looking ahead, Daodu outlines three broad price paths for XRP, each tied to how exchange balances and ETF inflows evolve. In a bullish scenario, the altcoin could move into the $4 to $5 range if monthly ETF inflows average $300-$500 million and exchange balances fall below 1.5 billion tokens.
A more neutral outcome would see XRP trading between $2.50 and $3.50. This scenario assumes ETF inflows slow to roughly $50 million to $70 million per week and exchange balances continue to decline at a steadier pace.
The bearish case hinges on the possibility that the supply contraction thesis proves overstated. If rapid transfers refill exchange order books, escrow releases increase selling pressure, or ETF demand slows due to tighter macroeconomic conditions, XRP could lose support.
In that scenario, prices may fall below $2.00 and revisit the $1.60 level during periods of risk aversion. Prolonged uncertainty could see XRP trading between $1.50 and $2.00 for much of 2026, according to the analyst.
At the time of writing, the altcoin was trading at $1.94. This represented losses of 4% and 8% over seven and fourteen-day periods, respectively. This positions the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap 46% below the current all-time high of $3.64 reached back in July of last year.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin is trading below the $90,000 level once again, as the market continues to drift through a phase defined by indecision, rising caution, and growing fear. After repeated failures to reclaim this psychological threshold, price action has started to reflect a lack of conviction on both sides, with buyers hesitating to step in aggressively and sellers pressing every rebound attempt. While the broader trend has not fully collapsed, the inability to hold key levels is increasing uncertainty around Bitcoin’s next major move.
Top analyst Darkfost argues that on-chain signals are starting to mirror conditions typically seen near the end of prolonged drawdowns. According to his analysis, Bitcoin’s unrealized profits and losses are sliding back toward levels that have historically appeared only at the exit of bear markets, when the market has already absorbed a deep reset in sentiment. This shift suggests that stress is building under the surface, even if price has not yet entered a full capitulation phase.
Since Bitcoin’s last all-time high, Darkfost notes that many late-arriving investors have moved into uncomfortable territory, facing mounting downside pressure as the market cools. As a result, unrealized profits are shrinking, unrealized losses are expanding, and the overall balance continues to deteriorate—an environment that often forces traders into a decisive choice between holding through volatility or exiting under stress.
Decision Point For Bitcoin Investors
Darkfost highlighted a chart based on an adjusted version of NUPL (Net Unrealized Profit/Loss), designed to capture investor stress more accurately during shifting market regimes. Instead of relying solely on the standard market cap, the model incorporates the realized capitalization of both Short-Term Holders (STHs) and Long-Term Holders (LTHs), then compares that blended realized foundation against Bitcoin’s traditional market cap.
The result is a clearer view of how much profit or loss sits “on paper” across the market, filtered through a more structural lens. To reduce noise and better define trend shifts, the metric is smoothed using an average, producing what Darkfost refers to as aNUPL.
The key takeaway is that Bitcoin is approaching levels that have historically forced investors into a binary decision. When unrealized profits compress and unrealized losses expand to these ranges, holders typically face two outcomes: hold and continue accumulating, or capitulate and lock in losses. That difference in behavior becomes critical because it shapes liquidity, sentiment, and the next directional trend.
If long-term participants absorb the pressure and keep holding, the market can stabilize and rotate back into recovery. But if selling accelerates from stressed cohorts, the decline can deepen into a broader bear phase. This is why tracking realized and unrealized profit dynamics remains essential, especially during periods of uncertainty.
Bitcoin Consolidates After Sharp Weekly Breakdown
Bitcoin is trading around $89,000 on the weekly chart after a steep selloff that pushed the price out of its prior distribution zone. The latest candle reflects heavy downside pressure, with BTC dropping roughly 4.8% on the week and struggling to stabilize near a key pivot that has repeatedly acted as support and resistance throughout the cycle.
After failing to hold above the psychological $90,000 threshold, the market is now trapped in a tight consolidation range, suggesting traders are waiting for confirmation before committing to a larger move.
From a trend standpoint, Bitcoin remains vulnerable as it trades below the blue moving average, which is now acting as overhead resistance near the low-$100K region. The rejection from that dynamic level aligns with the broader structure: BTC topped near the mid-$120K range, then entered a sharp corrective leg that reset momentum into early 2026. While the green moving average continues to slope upward and is approaching the current price zone, the market has not yet shown the strength needed to reclaim its former trend trajectory.
Importantly, the weekly structure is now compressing. If buyers can defend the $88K–$90K region and push BTC back above $92K–$95K, it would signal a recovery attempt toward the moving average band. However, a sustained failure here increases the risk of a deeper retracement toward the low-$80K zone, where prior demand previously emerged.
Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
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While XRP has continued to face bearish pressure amid a broader market weakness, chart data suggests higher targets may be on the horizon. XRP continues to trade under pressure as weakness across the wider crypto market weighs on price action.