The recent XRP price crash of 18% in the last three days, dropping from an ATH of $3.65, could be due to anticipated profit booking. Other crucial factors also contributed extensively to the massive tumble in prices.
The reasons include Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen joining entities selling XRP, a delay in the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit settlement, and technical chart weakness.
Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen Moved Out 50M XRP
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transferred out 106 million XRP worth over $344 million to crypto exchanges and wallets since the start of the year.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT noted that a wallet linked to executive chairman Larsen transferred out 50 million XRP worth nearly $175 million to four different wallet addresses.
Among them, $140 million XRP moved to crypto exchanges or related services. This is a notable amount from the Ripple executive to build selling pressure.
In addition, two wallets received 30 million XRP, and a wallet got 10 million XRP. Notably, almost $35 million in XRP were transferred to two new wallets.
Two wallet addresses received 5 million in XRP each. Also, Chris Larsen continued to send XRP to these four wallets previously.
Ripple vs SEC Settlement Uncertainty
Judge Analisa Torres rejected Ripple and the US SEC’s indicative ruling motion on July 26, claiming parties can proceed to settlement without changing the Final Judgment and $125 million in civil penalty.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed dropping their cross-appeal in the 2nd Circuit Court as the SEC agreed to settle the long-running Ripple vs the SEC lawsuit.
However, there was no significant development in the lawsuit or announcement from Ripple and the SEC for over a month.
Investors considered a delay in settlement to August or later, triggering profit booking by investors.
Former SEC lawyer Marc Fagel clarified that it typically takes 1-2 months for the SEC to approve an enforcement recommendation.
He said an SEC public statement about dropping the Ripple appeal can come at any time in the next few weeks.
Price Losing Upside Momentum
Profit booking after hitting an ATH triggered a slight drop in price. However, the downfall started after it broke below the ascending channel pattern as indicators turned weak.
Later, XRP’s key support at $3.36 was also broken, causing the price to fall to $2.98. It is the 38.20% Fib retracement level.
The crypto’s price could fall further to $2.80 in order to rebound strongly for the next target at $6. However, the ATH level would act as a major resistance.
At the time of writing, the coin was trading at 10% down at $3.10 in the past 24 hours. The 24-hour low and high were $2.99 and $3.46, respectively.
However, the trading volume has increased by 140% in the last 24 hours, indicating massive interest among traders.
In the daily timeframe, the price moves above the 50-SMA, 100-SMA, and 200-SMA at the time of writing.
Whereas the Relative Strength Index (RSI) dropped from 85 to 60, signaling potential for an upside move after a cooldown.
The derivatives market showed buying in the last few hours, as per CoinGlass data. At the time of writing, the total XRP futures open interest jumped 0.21% to $9.26 in an hour.
The 24-hour XRP futures OI was down more than 14%. Notably, XRP futures OI on CME and Binance fell by more than 5% and 16%, respectively.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2025/07/24/ripples-chris-larsen-dumping-xrp-among-top-3-reasons-behind-price-crash/