New York, May 18, 2026, 06:17 (EDT)
- XRP was changing hands at about $1.39, off more than 2% for the day, as selling pressure weighed on both bitcoin and ether.
- Spot XRP ETFs saw $60.5 million in net inflows last week. Still, the token kept falling.
- Traders look to U.S. crypto legislation and the Fed minutes on Wednesday for where risk appetite heads next.
XRP dropped near $1.38 on Monday. The coin pulled back as the wider crypto market decline erased gains from last week, when U.S. regulation and fund inflow optimism had boosted prices.
XRP was around $1.39, off 2.29% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Trading volume stood at $1.89 billion with a market cap close to $85.64 billion. Bitcoin and ether also fell, so the slide wasn’t just about XRP.
XRP’s timing is in focus. The token dropped below $1.40 again after drifting for a few sessions. This slide came even as fresh cash came into spot XRP exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, which trade on exchanges and offer exposure to XRP without investors holding the token themselves.
XRP traded at $1.3858 on Monday, according to Investing.com, after swinging between $1.3800 and $1.4022 during the session. The token also dropped both Saturday and Sunday, stretching losses from Friday’s close around $1.4340.
Crytpo assets slid as digital markets unwound on the day. The total market value of cryptocurrencies dropped 3.8% to roughly $2.56 trillion, according to Crypto.news. Forced liquidations hit more than $661 million in positions, as leveraged traders got shut out for not covering collateral.
Bitcoin dropped under $77,000 and ether moved down to around $2,100 as XRP’s peers also lost ground. Traders stayed focused on whether this selloff is just a brief shakeout or signals a bigger pullback from risk.
ETF buyers were active, but the impact looked limited. Net inflows to XRP spot ETFs hit $60.495 million in the week of May 11-15, according to KuCoin, quoting MetaEra and SoSoValue. Bitwise’s XRP fund brought in $25.6775 million, while Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ pulled $21.0402 million.
Day’s main story is funds seeing inflows while spot crypto faces selling. Institutional money hasn’t left, but it can’t balance out how much leverage is coming out of the market.
Crypto prices stayed under pressure after Bitcoin ran into resistance near $82,000, Riya Sehgal, research analyst at Delta Exchange, told The Economic Times. Akshat Siddhant, lead quant analyst at Mudrex, said bitcoin was holding near $77,000 as Middle East tensions led to a “risk-off stance” from investors. Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus, added that traders are looking for signals on U.S. rates in the Federal Reserve minutes set for May 20. The Economic Times
Washington is still active in the trade debate. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee sent the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 to the Senate floor on May 14 with a 15-9 vote. Two Democrats voted for the move but told Reuters they may not stay with the bill if it changes in future talks.
But there’s a clear downside. Oil-led inflation worries, higher Treasury yields or the Fed minutes could push investors out of speculative names. XRP might drop with bitcoin, regardless of ETF inflows or the regulatory news. A move below Monday’s low would make the recent fund-flow narrative harder to defend.
