XRP Plunges to 6-Week Low as Fading Whale Activity Spells Further Trouble Ahead

It was less than ten days ago when the popular cross-border token challenged the $1.55 resistance. The subsequent rejection, though, was both immediate and violent.

The past 24 hours have only intensified the retracement. Although almost the entire market is in the red today, with BTC sliding to $75,000 for the first time in three weeks, XRP’s drop is actually worse.

Whale Activity Disappears

With the token currently trading at $1.33, the 10-day chart shows a substantial 14% decline since the local peak. Moreover, XRP has dropped to its current price for the first time since April 13, marking a six-week low. Its market capitalization has dumped toward $82 billion, and the gap with BNB has only widened to over $5 billion as of press time.

What’s perhaps even more worrying is the fact that whale activity on the XRP network has declined from 157 large transactions of over $1 million a few months ago to 67 today. This 57.3% drop, according to popular analyst Ali Martinez, suggests that the underlying asset could “be entering a compression phase.”

Whales have seemingly stepped back to let “the current price range settle, which naturally reduces immediate volatility and allows the order books to mature.”

In the last 9 days, whale activity on the $XRP network has dropped from 157 large transactions worth over $1 million to just 67 today, representing a 57.3% decline.

When large-scale transaction volume thins out like this, it tells me the market could be entering a compression… pic.twitter.com/lVQGjhqVzG

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) May 23, 2026

On the more positive side, XRP saw a massive 4,300 new wallet creations in a single day earlier this week, which was the fourth-largest such spike in its network activity in 2026. According to Santiment, such network growth is among the strongest signals for possible market reversals.

But Maybe More Pain Ahead?

While weighing in on XRP’s recent price moves, fellow analyst CRYPTOWZRD warned that the token had closed bearish. They predicted more troubles ahead, especially if BTC continues to decline.

Additionally, CW said XRP continues to show an “increasing trend in short positions,” and cautioned that there are “no reversal signals in the futures market yet.” In a separate post, the analyst warned that the cross-border altcoin could fall further to $1.30.