XRP Dips Below $2: Whale Selling vs. Record $1B ETF Inflows – What’s Next for Ripple in 2025?

Short answer: In mid-December 2025, XRP dipped below $2 — trading around $1.92-$1.94, down 45% from its July peak of $3.66 — even as U.S. spot XRP ETFs racked up 30 straight days of net inflows totaling over $1 billion. The tug-of-war came down to whale profit-taking (over 1.18 billion tokens dumped in recent weeks) pulling against steady institutional accumulation through the new ETF products, leaving the price pinned in consolidation rather than moving cleanly in either direction.

If you’d been watching the crypto markets that week, you’d have seen XRP taking a bit of a beating. As of December 17, 2025, it was hovering right around $1.92-$1.94, down about 7% over the past week from around $2.08. That came after dropping over 45% from its July peak of about $3.66. A lot of holders were feeling that pain — around 37% sat underwater on their positions at the time.

But here’s the thing that had everyone talking: while the price was dipping, something pretty notable was happening behind the scenes with XRP ETFs.

The ETF Boom That Defied Gravity

U.S. spot XRP ETFs had been on an absolute tear at that point. They racked up 30 straight days of net inflows — no outflows at all — with cumulative inflows hitting over $1 billion, with some reports putting assets under management as high as $1.12 billion. That was a genuinely big deal, especially compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, which had seen outflows over roughly the same stretch.

Big players like Vanguard flipped their stance that same month, opening access to over 50 million clients. That’s the kind of institutional muscle that signals genuine long-term confidence rather than short-term speculation. These ETFs were pulling supply off the market too — exchange balances dropped sharply, down 45% by some metrics that year — meaning fewer tokens were floating around available for quick sells.

It looked like institutions were quietly accumulating while the spot price consolidated — a fairly classic bullish divergence pattern, at least on paper.

But Those Whales Were Cashing Out

On the flip side, whales weren’t sitting idle during this window. Data at the time showed massive profit-taking — over 1.18 billion XRP dumped in recent weeks, including one long-dormant whale wallet realizing $721 million in profits from coins bought years earlier at pennies apiece.

This selling pressure was what kept the price pinned below $2. It’s a fairly classic pattern: after a big run-up earlier in the year, large holders lock in gains, especially with the broader market feeling shaky — the Crypto Fear and Greed Index sat deep in extreme fear territory at the time, around 11-16.

Short-term, this whale distribution outweighed the steady ETF buying, leading to that frustrating price consolidation despite otherwise strong institutional headlines.

So, What Was Next for XRP?

Short-term, things felt genuinely bearish at the time. Sentiment was fearful, technicals showed the market testing key support around $1.90-$1.95, and a break below that level risked more downside toward $1.80 or lower. Extreme readings on the fear index have historically sometimes preceded capitulation, though that’s never a certainty.

Zooming out, the picture looked somewhat brighter. If ETF inflows kept rolling — and there was no clear sign they were stopping at the time — some analysts eyed a rebound toward $2.85 by year-end or early 2026, with more bullish longer-term calls reaching $4-$5 if adoption continued ramping up.

Ripple’s fundamentals looked genuinely strong heading into that stretch too: RLUSD stablecoin expanding to more chains, potential interoperability across 50+ networks, and real-world banking partnerships continuing to accumulate. Regulatory clarity following the SEC settlement had opened real doors for institutional participation that simply weren’t available in prior years.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many XRP holders were underwater in December 2025?

Around 37% of XRP holders were underwater at the time, meaning their average purchase price exceeded the token’s then-current value of roughly $1.92-$1.94, following a 45% drop from July’s peak of $3.66.

How much XRP did whales sell during this period?

Whale wallets sold over 1.18 billion XRP in recent weeks at the time, including one long-dormant whale that realized $721 million in profits on coins originally purchased for pennies each.

How long was the XRP ETF inflow streak?

U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded 30 straight days of net inflows with zero outflow days, accumulating over $1 billion in cumulative inflows since their November 2025 launch.

What price level was critical support at the time?

The $1.90-$1.95 zone served as key support. A break below that range carried risk of further downside toward $1.80 or lower, based on the technical picture at the time.

Looking Back on That Dip

This dip had the hallmarks of accumulation ahead of a potential next leg up — whales selling into institutional buying is a pattern crypto markets have seen before. History has shown XRP tends to respond more to utility and sustained inflows than to short-term hype cycles, for whatever that pattern is worth going forward.

Looking back on this period now, did that setup mark the bottom, or did more pain follow before things turned around? That’s worth checking against how the price actually moved in the months that followed rather than speculating further here.

This is not financial advice. Crypto is volatile — always do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.