Friday is starting out with tighter ranges and fewer liquidation blowouts. This comes after XRP becomes the most technically complicated chart in the top 10, Coinbase Institutional drops a four-part theory for a market reset and the Zcash collapse story is debunked by a well-known figure from Solana’s inner circle.
TL;DR
- XRP fires opposite technical signals: $2.34 upside vs. $1.39 downside, both active.
- Coinbase lists ETF flows, leverage collapse and imbalance as reset indicators.
- Zcash (ZEC) scandal debunked by Solana insider, legal restructuring confirmed.
$2 XRP both bull and bear trap
XRP has entered an ultra-rare state of simultaneous dual signal conflict: on the daily, bulls are ready to celebrate the formation of a textbook “golden cross,” while on the weekly, bears now point to a fresh “death cross.”
Both of these crosses come from the same setup visible on TradingView — the interaction between the 23-day (or week) and 50-day (or week) moving averages. They both trigger full-cycle trends, targeting the 200 MA as a magnet for the price of XRP.
Looking at the daily chart, it seems that the price is heading toward $2.34, and that has already been a bit of a hurdle earlier this week. This target lines up with the 200-day curve. The weekly chart at the same time hints at a “death cross,” indicating a 33% drop from current prices to around $1.39 per XRP. This would reverse the December-January recovery and match historical backtests.
The crossover conflict is more than just a visual mess; it actually divides the market into different segments. Derivative books are all over the place, and open interest has dropped off without anyone knowing what to do.
Thus, it looks like $2.00 is more of a liquidity compression zone than anything else, not a clear directional signal. If one of the two longer targets does not break cleanly, this range is a dead zone. The more it flatlines, the more XRP resembles a stablecoin.
Coinbase announced four reasons for bullish crypto reset
Coinbase’s January note says there are four reasons to believe crypto is entering a new phase after the brutal December sell-off. The timing lines up with the launches of ETFs, forced deleveraging and new flows returning to post-holiday markets.
After the initial euphoria died down, net inflows have resumed into spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. While they are not at their November highs, the flows show that these products are sticky, which suggests that institutional allocators are treating them as risk assets again instead of as short-term novelties.
Systemic leverage is at its lowest point yet, sitting at just 3% of the total crypto market cap. This is based on perpetuals and options open interest compared to the float-adjusted market cap, but it does not include stables. That is the lowest level since early 2024, and a dramatic fall from the 9%+ peaks seen in July-August 2025.
Spot markets are not one-sided anymore. Coinbase and other exchanges are reporting two-way flow depth returning, especially on BTC and ETH pairs. Panic offers and liquidation walls are a thing of the past. Depth data shows that bids are real and takers are no longer just shorts.
The metrics have stabilized, especially the 25-delta risk reversals. This means traders are buying more protection against rising prices than protection against falling prices. By late December, that ratio was almost all bearish. Now, the flow is rotating back to directional bets, which is usually a sign that everyone is feeling more confident.
To sum it up, ETF flows do not budge, leverage is reset, books are balanced and options are showing more upside potential. In a nutshell, Coinbase says this is a “cautious re-risking phase.”
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Zcash to $10,000? Solana’s top contributor says FUD is exaggerated
Zcash (ZEC) was in the news this week due to reports of a developer team resignation following a governance dispute. CEO Josh Swihart confirmed the core issue — disagreements over corporate governance — and added that the protocol was not affected.
Nonetheless, the market sold first. ZEC dropped over 10% intraday due to fears of protocol abandonment, brain drain and ecosystem collapse.
That is when Mert Mumtaz — the CEO of Helius and one of Solana’s most technically respected contributors — showed up and totally dismantled the Zcash FUD narrative in a thread that has now gone viral on Crypto Twitter.
He explained that the team “graduated” from a political foundation setup to a more agile tech-based lab model, adding that they actually increased team size, capital access and execution speed.
It does not matter if $10,000 is a target or a statement of principle. What matters is that the ZEC developer team was not cut down — it evolved. That might be enough to change the story and keep ZEC in the conversation about long-term accumulation.
Price reaction confirms partial recovery: ZEC has rebounded from sub-$420 levels, holding strong near $435, though still below the key resistance at $473. If the new structure holds up, this might have just been a shakeout, especially with capital rotation still favoring privacy tokens.
What’s next for crypto market?
This week’s price action is not telling the whole story. Beneath the surface of seemingly stable market conditions, the market is reconfiguring itself after a period of leveraged chaos. Whether that results in an increase in Q1 depends on market flows and conviction.
Coinbase’s four steps to recovery do not guarantee a rally. However, they suggest that institutions are no longer in flight mode. With retail investors on the sidelines and altcoin narratives fracturing, major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and even XRP could dominate attention over the coming sessions.
Key levels to watch:
- XRP: $2.34 breakout point, $2.00 balance zone and $1.39 collapse trigger.
- Zcash (ZEC): $473 resistance, $520 short cluster and $287 liquidation floor.
- Bitcoin (BTC): Follow ETF net flow data daily, especially if the options market continues to favor the put side.
The weekend will test if this structural recovery has real legs or if the market is just enjoying a post-purge echo before another round of whiplash.
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