Whale activity and STH cash flow surge: What keeps XRP still at a standstill?

Short term investors have increased their accumulation during the recent correction, just as XRP recorded the highest trading volume from whales in four months. In the context of the derivatives market still maintaining stability, traders' confidence seems to be quietly strengthening beneath the surface.

Whale activity surges as short term holders accumulate

XRP just recorded 716 whale transactions over 1 million USD, marking the most explosive day in the past four months.

Source: XThe latest data shows that strong increases in activity among the “big players” occur right when short term investors ramp up their Accumulation. Glassnode's HODL Waves chart records a marked expansion in the holding ranges of 1–3 months and 1 week–1 month, indicating that new capital is flowing into XRP, rather than long-term investors dumping their holdings.

Source: GlassnodeIn other words, short term wallets are accelerating accumulation, while whales are returning to the market with significant strength, creating a more positive context for XRP in the short term.

The derivatives market remains stable despite strong activity

Alongside that, the XRP derivatives market continues to show a rather calm state.

The total open contracts (OI) have remained almost unchanged, stabilizing around the threshold of 1.30 billion USD throughout the past week, despite more dynamic developments in the spot market. The funding rate also maintains a slight positive level, around 0.0057.

These signals indicate that the market is not witnessing a situation where the Long side is over-leveraging, while the Short side is also not being cornered.

Source: CoinalyzeGenerally, it can be seen that speculators are not the main driving force behind the recent on-chain changes. The activity of XRP is currently mainly driven by accumulation from the spot market.

Price pressure still exists

On the daily chart, XRP is still struggling against a series of key resistance levels. At the time of writing, all important EMA lines (20, 50, 100, and 200) are above the price, indicating that selling pressure remains dominant.

The recent candles mainly fluctuate around the 2.24 USD region, reflecting relatively weak consecutive buying pressure after last week's slight rebound. The trading volume has also gradually decreased compared to the strong breakout period in early November, indicating that market sentiment is becoming more cautious.

Source: TradingViewThe RSI indicator is currently around 41, holding XRP in a neutral zone but slightly leaning towards a downward trend as momentum has not really improved.

If the price cannot break back above the EMA convergence zone of 2.36–2.50 USD, the short term trend of XRP is likely to continue moving sideways, and it may even extend the correction.

SN_Nour