NEW YORK, Feb 7, 2026, 12:05 (EST) — Market closed.
XRP slipped Saturday, trading near $1.42—down roughly 5% from its Friday finish, with weekend volatility kicking in as U.S. equities stayed closed. It swung from about $1.39 up to $1.51 during the session.
This latest drop caps a rough stretch for crypto, with thinner liquidity making wild price swings almost routine. “Reduced liquidity translates into sharper and more erratic price movements,” said Thomas Probst, research analyst at Kaiko, highlighting a persistent decline in market depth — essentially, how much can actually trade near the current price before it jumps. Over at Jefferies, analyst Andrew Moss isn’t spotting many bullish signals. He says there’s little evidence a bottom has formed. 1
The jitters tie back to uncertainty over U.S. interest rates, with Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson noting policy is “well positioned.” He signaled that decisions ahead will hinge on new data as officials watch inflation and labor trends. Last week, the Fed kept rates stuck at 3.50%-3.75%. Jefferson acknowledged inflation’s improvement has stalled over the past year, but maintained he’s “cautiously optimistic” looking toward 2026. 2
Volatility in bitcoin spilled over into altcoins like XRP, with bitcoin clawing its way back above $70,000 on Friday after briefly plunging to a 16-month low just above $60,018 earlier in the day. Ether also surged, up around 12% from a level that marked its lowest point in nearly 10 months. Options traders weren’t taking chances—put activity surged, as investors snapped up contracts that benefit from further declines. Derive.xyz’s Sean Dawson described the appetite for downside hedges as “extreme,” noting a heavy concentration of bets near $60,000 and $50,000 strikes ahead of the Feb. 27 expiry. 3
Ripple is steering the conversation back to its core infrastructure, rolling out an “Institutional DeFi” roadmap for the XRP Ledger in its Feb. 5 update. The plan includes permissioned markets with KYC and AML baked in, plus a Permissioned DEX, and the XLS-66 native lending protocol expected later this year. Sagar Shah, chief business officer at Evernorth, called this protocol “a fundamental shift in how institutional liquidity moves onchain.” 4
XRP continues to behave like a high-beta risk play when markets sour, with the recent slide drawing attention. According to a CoinDesk report reposted by MEXC, XRP dropped 22% in the last seven days. That decline comes despite developers making their case for improvements like an EVM sidechain, which could let Ethereum-style smart contracts connect to XRPL liquidity through an Axelar bridge. 5
New investors, take note: XRP operates on the XRP Ledger, a platform built around consensus instead of proof-of-work mining. Quick settlements and low fees are still the draw. Even so, that tech hasn’t spared XRP from broader macro selling pressure in this market. 6
Yet for XRP bulls, the main concern is self-reinforcing volatility. When order books are thin, what starts as ordinary profit-taking can suddenly drop into an air pocket. Any fresh stumble from U.S. tech names or a hawkish shift on rates could leak right back into crypto prices.
With a fresh week underway, traders are focused on U.S. data and gauging if Friday’s rally has legs. The U.S. jobs report drops Feb. 11 at 8:30 a.m. ET. CPI numbers for January follow on Feb. 13, same time, but the Labor Department has cautioned that government service disruptions could shift those release dates. 7
Ripple has penciled in Feb. 11 for XRP Community Day 2026, a virtual gathering centered on XRP and XRPL utility. The company says the event is meant to spotlight use cases — and, in crypto, these forums have a history of triggering sharp sentiment shifts with fresh product details or timeline updates. 8
