XRP slipped below the psychological barrier of $2 as it traded around $1.90–$1.92 despite multiple ETF approvals and launches during November. News of funds such as Canary Capital’s XRPC and Bitwise’s ETF, which recorded opening volumes of $58 million and $105 million respectively (another fund attracted $250 million), failed to arrest the contraction across the market.
The downward pressure stemmed from a combination of market dynamics, initial institutional flows and technical signals. XRP showed a high correlation with Bitcoin, posting a 7-day correlation coefficient of 0.81, and the overall market weakness intensified when Bitcoin fell below $82,000 in November 2025, increasing XRP’s sensitivity to broad sell-offs.
On the liquidity front, the new ETFs acted more as magnets for initial capital than as catalysts for sustained conviction: institutions opened limited positions while professional traders rotated profits into larger assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This phenomenon, described as a “liquidity trap”, left positive flows that did not translate into aggressive buying. Large holders intensified selling pressure as on-chain data showed whale activity with significant movements and an initial net outflow of more than 583 million XRP from exchanges in early November; subsequent re-entries were observed after the break below $2.10, indicating cautious buying on dips rather than decisive accumulation.
Technically, the chart exhibited a descending triangle formation with supports at $1.95 and $1.55. A “death cross” was identified, where the 50-day exponential moving average ($2.45) fell below the 200-day ($2.54), a crossover commonly associated with sustained bearish momentum. The RSI around 37, a MACD with a negatively expanding histogram, and a NUPL below 0.5 underscored weakening sentiment and a shift from optimism to anxiety among investors.
Factors explaining XRP’s fall below $2
Even though the ETFs did not support the price in the short term, Ripple’s corporate activity continued: the company closed a $500 million funding round and advanced strategic partnerships with players such as Mastercard and Gemini for stablecoin payments. These initiatives point to long-term utility and adoption, but were temporarily overshadowed by speculative and technical market behavior.
XRP’s fall below $2 illustrates the temporary disconnect between institutional validation (ETF launches, initial flows) and the dominant market dynamics (whale selling, correlation with Bitcoin and technical signals). The outcome absolves the technology of immediate blame but forces attention on three variables that will mark the next leg: the evolution of net flows into ETFs, large-holder behavior and Bitcoin’s trajectory.
