XRP prices continue to face pressure after falling around 15% throughout February and are currently trading near $1.37.
At the time of writing, XRP is currently at $1.4262, up 0.08% since it opened early Thursday in Asian trading.
The move reflects a market that is becoming more tired after several weeks of weak momentum, with global crypto sentiment still sensitive to US economic developments and interest rate policy.
Derivatives data shows that many highly leveraged traders have exited the market.
The declining leverage ratio suggests that aggressive speculative activity is diminishing.
While this indicates that short-term interest is fading, it also reduces the risk of a sharp drop due to massive liquidations.
From a technical perspective, XRP is still below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, indicating that selling pressure has not fully subsided.
Furthermore, the transfer of over 31 million XRP to exchanges has raised concerns about the potential for renewed selling pressure if the token is released to the open market.
However, there are several interesting developments that are reminiscent of the situation before the big XRP surge in late 2024.
Among them are the increased inflows to exchanges, tighter USD liquidity in automated trading pools, and the depletion of XRP liquidity.
This situation can historically trigger more aggressive price movements when demand picks up again.
More encouragingly, the spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) continues to record net inflows, bringing the cumulative investment volume to over $1.23 billion.
This indicates that institutional interest remains strong despite the price experiencing a consolidation phase.
Currently, a key support level is around $1.30 while the main resistance lies at $1.50, $1.60 and $2.00.
