What’s Happening With XRP And Why Did Its Spot ETF Crash 20%?

[Ben Graham]

XRP’s price has continued to chop, trading sideways, which has impacted the price of the U.S. spot ETFs that provide exposure to the altcoin. Canary Capital’s XRP fund has crashed 20% since its launch, although this fund remains the largest by assets under management (AuM). 

XRP’s Sideways Price Action Leads To Spot ETF Crash

The XRP price has continued to trade within a tight range, just above the psychological $2 level, sparking bearish sentiment among investors. The altcoin is down over 10% in the last month, around the time the first spot XRP ETF, Canary’s fund, launched. This bearish price action has notably contributed to a price crash for Canary’s XRPC fund. 

TradingView data shows that Canary’s XRP ETF is down 20% since its launch on November 13. XRPC also dropped almost 10% last week amid choppy price action. Canary’s fund has also likely crashed due to increased competition from three other spot funds that launched after it. This has led to a slowdown in its inflows since these funds launched. 

Meanwhile, these funds track the spot XRP price, which also explains Canary’s XRPC crash. XRP has mirrored Bitcoin’s price action amid concerns that the crypto market may already be in a bear market. XRP whales also look to be bearish at the moment, as Santiment data shows a drop in whale transactions from a recent high recorded in November. 

However, despite this bearish sentiment, with the crypto market currently in a state of fear, the XRP ETFs have continued to record daily net inflows. SoSo Value data show that these funds have been on a 16-day net inflow streak since Canary’s XRP fund launched on November 13, and they have yet to record a net outflow day. 

Canary’s XRP ETF, which has suffered a 20% price crash, is currently the largest spot XRP fund with $364 million in assets under management. Grayscale’s GXRP is second with $211 million, while Bitwise and Franklin Templeton are third and fourth. As a group, these XRP funds are about to hit $1 billion in assets under management, with $861 million in total net assets. 

Some Positives For The Altcoin

Santiment data show that XRP exchange outflows have outweighed inflows in recent times. This is a positive as it indicates that more investors are accumulating than selling. Exchange outflows typically represent moves for long-term holding, especially in anticipation of higher prices. 

In an X post, Santiment mentioned that the XRP Ledger is seeing a fascinating trend of whale and shark wallets shrinking in number but continuing to grow in coins held. The on-chain analytics platform noted that there are 20.6% fewer 100 million XRP wallets, but that these wallets, as a group, still own a 7-year high 48 billion coins. As such, the existing 100 million XRP wallets are doubling down on their accumulation efforts and making up for the shrinking number of wallets. 

At the time of writing, the altcoin’s price is trading at around $2.07, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.