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A 250 million XRP whale purchase failed to boost the price due to immediate large-scale sell-offs.
Overleveraged long positions led to $3 million in liquidations, adding pressure on XRP’s price.
Despite short-term stagnation, the long-term outlook remains positive with strong whale accumulation and regulatory clarity.
XRP, the digital token used on the XRP Ledger for fast and low-cost international transactions, has been in the spotlight recently. A very large investor—often called a “whale” in the cryptocurrency world—bought 250 million XRP in one go. Normally, such a huge buy would be expected to push the price up. However, the price of XRP remained almost unchanged. This has left many wondering: Why didn’t the price move?
On May 21, 2025, data from blockchain trackers showed a single wallet buying about 250 million XRP. This kind of transaction usually signals that someone expects XRP to rise in value. Buying such a large amount reduces the available supply in the market, which should lead to a price increase, at least in theory.
But in the hours following the transaction, XRP’s price stayed between $2.33 and $2.43. That’s a very narrow range, especially when compared to how other major cryptocurrencies like Solana and Cardano performed in the same period.
So why didn’t the price go up?
It turns out that while one whale was buying XRP, other large holders were selling. Wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP sold about 100 million tokens shortly after the big buy.
This selling put downward pressure on the price, which balanced out the impact of the 250 million XRP purchase. When both buying and selling are strong, the price often stays flat, just like what happened here.
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Another important factor was the state of the XRP derivatives market. Derivatives are financial products that let traders bet on the future price of an asset, like XRP. In recent days, more and more traders were betting that the price of XRP would rise. This created what’s called an “overleveraged” market.
The ratio of people betting on a price increase (long positions) compared to those betting on a decrease (short positions) reached over 3 to 1. When there are too many long positions, even a small drop in price can lead to liquidations—automatic selling of traders’ positions to prevent further losses.
About $3 million worth of long positions were wiped out in just 24 hours. These liquidations added even more selling pressure to the market, making it hard for XRP to rise.
The 250 million XRP purchase wasn’t an isolated event. Over the past month, whale wallets have accumulated nearly 2 billion XRP. This means that large investors are still interested in XRP and are positioning themselves for something, perhaps a major market move or a change in the broader crypto environment.
However, these same whales are also selling when the price rises, aiming to make quick profits. For example, about 60 million XRP were sold within a 72-hour period recently, which caused the price to drop by 5%.
This back-and-forth between buying and selling is creating a tug-of-war that is keeping XRP’s price stuck in place.
From a technical standpoint, XRP still shows signs of strength. The token is trading above its 200-day simple moving average, which is often seen as a sign that the overall trend is upward.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI), a tool used to measure market momentum, is currently at 55. This number suggests that XRP is neither overbought nor oversold—basically, the market is in a neutral zone.
If XRP manages to stay above the support level of $2.32 and break through resistance around $2.61, there’s a good chance the price could rise to $2.85 or even higher. But that depends on whether market conditions improve and whether selling pressure eases.
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Despite positive technical indicators, the mood among investors is cautious. The large sell-offs by whales and the overleveraged trading environment have made many traders nervous. Some believe that XRP may need to go through a period of consolidation—a phase where the price moves within a tight range to allow the market to reset—before any major upward movement can happen.
This kind of pause is not unusual in the world of cryptocurrencies and is often seen before big price moves.
One of the most important recent events for XRP was the end of the legal battle between Ripple Labs (the company behind XRP) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The resolution of this case has brought regulatory clarity, which has been a major concern for both individual and institutional investors.
In addition, XRP futures ETFs (exchange-traded funds) have been launched, allowing larger investors to gain exposure to XRP without directly holding the token. This has increased institutional interest in XRP.
Some top XRP holders have also started investing in related projects like Remittix, which focuses on improving cross-border money transfers. This shows that large players are not only betting on the price of XRP but also its practical use in the real world.
Looking ahead, analysts remain hopeful about XRP’s long-term potential. Forecasts suggest that XRP could reach $2.85 by June 2025 and may climb to $5.50 by the end of the year, especially if investor confidence grows and regulatory conditions continue to improve.
However, in the short term, XRP may still face bumps along the way. If the price becomes overbought again or if whales continue to sell in large amounts, the price could drop back to support levels around $2.44 or even lower.
Market watchers will be paying close attention to any signs of change in whale behavior, shifts in leverage, and broader trends in the crypto market.
Even though a massive 250 million XRP was purchased by a single whale, the token’s price didn’t move much. That’s because other large investors sold a large amount soon after, and the market was already showing signs of stress from too many leveraged bets on price increases.
In simple terms, XRP is caught in a game of push and pull between buyers and sellers. While the long-term outlook still looks positive due to growing adoption and legal clarity, the short-term may continue to be volatile.
