Over the past 24 hours, XRP fell 24%, dipping down to $2 as it continues to fall, now priced at $2.28. The volume of its trading surged 450%, whereas the valuation of its open interest fell 38% on a market cap of $130.69 billion, ultimately losing 22%, signaling traders are shying away amid the volatility.
The sale has triggered massive XRP liquidations of $115.31 million. Long positions have been affected the most, with $95.01 million liquidated, and short positions $20.30 million.
Over the past 24 hours, XRP has lost 8%, moving down to $1.38 from its past day high of $1.50, while through the entire month of November, some analysts were predicting a price as low as $0.05 on Dec 1 and the highest $2 as the geeky price, but also stating that XRP could bounce back to the $5 mark after the downward move.
On January 17, XRP was just 1% away from reaching its all-time high, breaking at $3.39. Although it failed to break through that milestone, the cryptocurrency was able to maintain a price above $3 for quite a few weeks.
That stability was shattered when XRP fell from $3.07 to $2.70 on Sunday morning, followed by a free fall to $2.50. A short-lived 10% rebound ensued, but the real injury occurred early Monday, sparking a wholesale sell-off. In a matter of hours, XRP fell from $2.70 to below $1.80, its lowest price since late November, when SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced he was leaving.
XRP has recently clawed back a little ground to trade above $2.20. Still, the token remains down 24% on the day, with its market capitalization falling under $130 billion. This steep decline enabled USDT, which has a market cap of $140 billion, to once again become the third-largest cryptocurrency.
To make things worse for XRP, whales, larger holders of the asset, seem to be altering their approach. In the last 96 hours alone, they have sold off over 70 million XRP, and, according to data provided by Ali Martinez, over the weekend, they cast away 130 million more tokens. These heavy hitters, who went on an XRP buying spree beginning in late 2022 and through the asset’s recent rally, now appear to be unloading their holdings, a trend that has the potential to spell more bad news for the asset.
Also Read: Will XRP Undergo Correction in February?
