Markets
XRP Price Rallies After Whales Buy $2 Billion, What Next?
XRP price climbed to $1.50 after whales bought more than $2 billion of the token, with on-chain data showing little resistance until $1.60.
7h ago 4,280
BLOCKINSIDERLoadingXRP price climbed to $1.50 after whales bought more than $2 billion of the token, with on-chain data showing little resistance until $1.60.
The crypto market has turned a week of bad headlines into its strongest rally in months. After the Senate blocked the CLARITY Act and the Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time since 2023, Bitcoin climbed to an eight-month high of $85,134 on 21 September, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Falling oil prices, a strong weekly close and short sellers caught on the wrong side drove the turn, according to Yahoo Finance. Bitcoin had been trading near $76,000 on the day of the hike.
The recovery has spread well beyond Bitcoin. Ethereum hit its highest level in months, Solana reclaimed $117, and XRP has been among the stronger movers.
XRP traded at $1.50 on 22 September 2026, according to CoinGecko, with 24-hour trading volume of about $4.73 billion.
A day earlier, the token rose 7.50% in 24 hours to trade between $1.37 and $1.50, taking its market capitalization to about $92.9 billion and keeping it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, according to Bybit data.
That said, XRP is still far from its highs. It traded as high as $3.66 in 2025, as per Kraken data, so the current price sits close to 60% below that peak.
The rally did not come from nowhere. Large holders, often called whales, accumulated more than $2 billion worth of XRP before prices turned, according to analyst Ali Martinez. He said,
"Now that demand appears to be showing up in price, with XRP rallying 8.22% in just three days."
Whale buying matters because of what it removes from the market. Tokens bought by large holders and moved off exchanges are less likely to be sold on the next dip, which thins out the supply sellers can lean on.
Martinez's most relevant point is about what sits above the current price. He pointed to URPD, a measure of on-chain cost basis that shows the prices at which existing XRP last changed hands.
That matters because holders often sell when price returns to their entry point, especially if they bought at a loss and want to break even. Price levels where large amounts of supply last moved tend to act as resistance.
By that measure, XRP has an unusually clear path. According to Martinez,
"The URPD shows relatively little resistance ahead until $1.60, where roughly 2.50 billion XRP previously changed hands."
He flagged $1.60 as "the next major level I'm watching for potential profit-taking before looking for the next setup." That target sits about 7% above the current price.
The nearer test is holding the gains. The $1.37 to $1.40 area, where XRP traded before this leg higher, is the first support. A move back below that would suggest the rally was driven more by short covering rather than the buying that the whale data points to.
Above, $1.60 is the level where the supply picture changes. A clean break through it would put XRP into a zone with far more coins waiting to sell at break-even, and the rally would need fresh demand to continue.
The wider market remains the swing factor. XRP has moved with Bitcoin through this recovery, and the next macro marker arrives on 7 October, when the Fed releases minutes from its September meeting.
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