3 reasons why XRP price is surging today

XRP price records an increase of over 8% in the past 24 hours, marking a promising start to the new year. This upward momentum occurs amid a strong recovery in the global cryptocurrency market.

In addition to technical factors, whale accumulation activity and positions in the derivatives market also play a significant role in driving XRP’s upward trend, attracting considerable interest from investors.

Major whales accumulate heavily as ETF capital flows in

According to data from the on-chain analytics platform Santiment, whales holding over 1 billion XRP have actively purchased approximately 3.6 billion USD worth of XRP in just the past 24 hours.

Accumulated XRP by large investors (whales) | Source: Santiment This movement occurs amid continuous inflows into the spot XRP ETF, despite many other cryptocurrency ETFs experiencing outflows. The total net capital into XRP ETFs reaches 1.17 billion USD, reflecting strong interest from institutional investors.

Conversely, whales holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP tend to sell, causing the total holdings to decrease from over 4.3 billion USD to around 3.5 billion USD.

The divergence in accumulation activities among whale groups often signals upcoming strong price rallies, as it reduces circulating supply and demonstrates confidence in XRP’s long-term potential.

Max pain point for XRP options at 1.90 USD

According to data from Deribit, XRP options contracts worth millions of USD are expiring today, with a put-call ratio of 0.78 and the max pain price set at 1.90 USD.

With XRP’s spot price fluctuating around 2.03 USD and surpassing the 1.90 USD resistance level, traders are actively taking advantage of this max pain point.

XRP price reaches max pain | Source: Deribit In the derivatives market, the max pain point is the price at which the largest number of expiring options contracts become worthless, minimizing risk for option sellers.

Investors’ optimistic outlook has created significant buying pressure, as they actively purchase XRP to hedge risks or speculate that the price will move toward the max pain level before expiration.

Coupled with low futures market fees, this suggests that the current rally is mainly driven by calculated spot buying rather than excessive speculative trading, helping stabilize the upward trend.

Traders expect XRP to recover to 2.1 USD in the second half of January 2026, provided trading volume increases significantly.

Prominent analyst detects buy signals for XRP

Cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez states that the TD Sequential indicator has issued a macro buy signal on XRP’s two-week chart. History shows this indicator has accurately identified exhaustion signs and trend reversals multiple times.

The latest signal suggests XRP may rebound after a consolidation phase. Many other experts also believe XRP will continue to recover if it remains above the critical support level of 1.80 USD.

This has prompted traders to open long positions, contributing to a positive price movement today. Additionally, XRP supply on exchanges has dropped to the lowest level in 7 years, posing a potential supply shock risk.

Currently, XRP is up over 8%, trading at 2.03 USD. However, trading volume has decreased by 12% in the past 24 hours, indicating waning investor interest, likely due to options contracts expiring.

XRP price chart | Source: Coinphoton Data from CoinGlass also shows strong buying activity in the derivatives market. Open interest in XRP futures increased nearly 2% to 3.44 billion USD in the past 24 hours.

Open interest in XRP futures within 4 hours rose by 1.35%. On CME, it increased by 1.26%, and on Binance, it grew by nearly 2.80%, reflecting a bullish sentiment among derivatives traders regarding XRP’s prospects.