XRP is stuck at $1.09 — as ETF inflows dried up, whales quietly started buying again

XRP has spent the past several days trading in a tight range around $1.09-1.10, forming a narrowing triangle on the chart. At the same time, several conflicting developments have played out over those same few days — from ETF inflows nearly grinding to a halt, to a sharp drop and an equally sharp rebound in large-holder activity. Here's the full picture.

Price and Technical Picture

As of July 19, 2026, XRP was trading at $1.10 (+0.33% over 24 hours), and by July 20 the price had shifted to $1.09, still inside a narrowing triangle. Analysts had projected a $1.10-1.12 range for the week of July 16-21. The coin is holding above its 100-day EMA ($1.1023), and the MACD histogram is contracting, pointing to building bullish momentum. Key resistance sits at the 0.382 Fibonacci level near $1.18, along with the 20-period EMA around $1.22, which has capped recent bounces. The nearest support is the 0.5 Fibonacci level near $1.02. A breakout above $1.10-1.12 could open the path toward $1.40-1.60 as soon as July, though the market remains highly volatile.

ETF Inflows Have Nearly Stopped

July has been a weak month for spot XRP ETFs: several days in a row logged zero net inflow, and July 8 saw a $7.29 million outflow — one of the largest single-day losses since March 2026. As a result, total assets under management (AUM) across the seven XRP ETFs slipped below $1 billion for the first time, to roughly $996 million. Seven of the last 10 trading days recorded exactly $0 in net flows.

The one bright spot was July 16, when the funds pulled in $6.78 million in net inflows — the strongest day of the month, with $4.41 million going to the Bitwise ETF and $2.38 million to the Franklin fund. But nearly all of that inflow was concentrated in a single day, suggesting isolated institutional interest rather than a broad recovery in sustained demand.

A Sharp Drop, Then an Equally Sharp Return of Whales

An even sharper reversal played out in large-holder activity. Transactions above $1 million plunged 97% — from about 70 down to just two — between July 12 and 13. XRP whale outflows from Binance over the trailing 30 days fell to 885.1 million coins, the lowest level in more than two months, meaning large holders were pulling coins off the exchange noticeably less often.

But by July 21, the picture had started to shift: according to CryptoQuant data, XRP entered a phase of "liquidity equilibrium," with trader positioning becoming more balanced, while Ripple whales reportedly accumulated another roughly 70 million tokens, with Binance traders mostly holding long positions. The overall picture suggests large holders have taken a wait-and-see stance ahead of a clearer directional move, rather than aggressively buying or selling.

Network Fundamentals

Against the backdrop of sluggish price action, the XRP Ledger itself is faring noticeably better: the number of activated accounts has crossed 8 million, and the XRP Ledger Foundation describes the network as a "settlement layer" behind growing activity in tokenization, payments, and AI agents. Separately, for the first time, more of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin now circulates on the XRP Ledger than on Ethereum — meaning the company's own ecosystem is shifting its center of gravity toward its native network.

What This Means

XRP's Fear & Greed reading sits in "Extreme Fear" territory (25), yet the ratio of positive to negative commentary on the coin stands at 3.02 to 1 — the highest among the three largest cryptocurrencies, which analysts describe as a clear "FOMO zone." That combination — weak price action, near-frozen ETF inflows, and whale accumulation quietly resuming at the same time — is a textbook picture of a market that's paused ahead of a decision on direction, rather than confidently moving one way.

This material is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.