XRP rockets 11% to nearly $2.40 as Ripple-linked ETFs see highest trading volumes

• XRP surged to nearly $2.40, driven by heavy institutional trading and a shrinking supply on exchanges.
• Spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. saw $48 million in inflows, pushing cumulative inflows past $1 billion since their November launch.
• The rally is supported by a shift in market sentiment due to a more favorable U.S. regulatory environment and recent SEC changes.

XRP jumped to nearly $2.40 on Tuesday, extending its early-2026 rally as traders pointed to heavy institutional volumes and a tightening pool of tokens available on exchanges.

The token rose as much as 11% over 24 hours to around $2.38, breaking through a resistance band that had capped gains for weeks. The move came on one of XRP’s strongest volume bursts since mid-December, CoinDesk market data shows.

One reason is flow. Spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. posted $48 million in inflows on Monday, extending a green streak for the products, which have not seen a single day of outflows since their Nov. 13 launch.

Several of the products posted their largest single-day trading volumes on Monday, pushing cumulative inflows beyond the $1 billion mark in less than two months.

On-chain data shows XRP held on exchanges has dropped to multi-year lows, a sign that fewer tokens are sitting idle and ready to be sold into rallies. Traders often read that as a setup where even modest demand can move the price faster than usual.

The rally also builds on a shift in general market sentiment that started late last week.

Traders have been leaning into the idea that the U.S. regulatory environment is turning more constructive, particularly after SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw’s exit and continued talk around market structure legislation expected to move in January.

XRP, which spent years trading under a cloud of legal uncertainty, has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of that change in mood.

For now, the move is also feeding on itself. Breakouts through well-watched levels tend to trigger follow-through buying from traders who were waiting for confirmation, especially in a market where bitcoin is steady and speculative attention is rotating toward large-cap alts.

The key question is whether XRP can hold above the former resistance zone around $2.28 to $2.32. If it does, the market may start looking higher rather than treating the rally as another quick spike.

• KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
• This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
• Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
• Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
• Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

• Riot Platforms sold 1,818 bitcoin in December and 383 in November, generating approximately $200 million and reducing its BTC balance to 18,005 coins.
• Matthew Sigel of asset manager VanEck said the sales could fully fund the first phase of Riot’s Corsicana AI data center build.

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