XRP Tries to Break $3 as Whales Push Back
Date: 2025-08-08 Author: Henry Casey Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Despite XRP’s impressive growth over the past year — nearly 400% — the cryptocurrency has been hovering around $3 in recent weeks. The rally has stalled, with analysts citing the activity of large holders moving their holdings to exchanges as the main reason.
Data from CryptoQuant shows that the 30-day moving average of token transfers to centralized exchanges reached 9,298 on August 7. This is the second-highest level in 2025, following a surge in January when whales’ aggressive moves preempted a four-month decline in XRP from $3.27 to $1.70. Such dynamics are now raising concerns that history could repeat itself.
Meanwhile, retail investors remain confident and continue to accumulate the asset. Short-term holders — owners of tokens who hold them for a week to three months — are demonstrating stable buying activity. According to HODL waves, by August 6, the share of holders in the 1 week to 1 month category increased from 4.117% to 7.657%, and in the 1 to 3 months category — from 4.81% to 5.912%.
This increase in accumulations is reminiscent of the behavior of market participants before the rally in July, when XRP reached $3.65. If retail buyers maintain the momentum and the pressure from whales weakens, a new surge upward is possible.
The price is currently hovering around the $2.94 support level. The asset has closed above this mark several times in recent days, making it key in the short term. In case of growth, the next targets will be $3.08 and $3.29 — the areas of immediate resistance. However, if the wave of selling from large investors intensifies, there is a risk of a rollback to $2.72, the lower limit of the current range.
Thus, the XRP market is at a crossroads: on the one hand, there is interest and faith from small investors, on the other, there are strategic moves by whales. The final direction of movement will depend on which of them proves more persistent in the coming days.
