NEW YORK, February 24, 2026, 12:55 (EST) — Regular session
- XRP held around $1.36 following a two-day drop, mirroring the broader risk mood.
- Markets rattled as renewed questions about U.S. tariffs combine with a viral AI “doomsday” scenario.
- Traders are eyeing both Trump’s State of the Union and Nvidia’s results as the next signals for risk.
XRP hovered near $1.36 on Tuesday, little moved for the session as investors digested mounting U.S. tariff questions and renewed AI-driven volatility shaking up risk markets.
This month, trading action in the token has hinged more on the overall market mood than on crypto news. Investors have been rotating in and out of “risk-on” and “risk-off” trades—that is, moving toward or away from volatile assets. The pace of those shifts has been sharp, and smaller tokens have felt the impact more quickly than bitcoin.
XRP is now hovering close to the bottom of its February range after tumbling for two days straight. Monday saw a 2.9% decline, following Sunday’s 2.6% slide. The token briefly dipped to roughly $1.31 on Tuesday before steadying, according to data.
One factor: Washington’s latest tariff move. The U.S. started enforcing a new 10% global import tariff on Tuesday, though a White House official told Reuters the Trump administration aimed to push that up to 15%. That comes on the heels of last week’s Supreme Court loss over previous tariffs, injecting fresh uncertainty. “Trade uncertainty was unlikely to go away soon,” ING’s global macro chief Carsten Brzeski said. Reuters
A viral report by Citrini Research has shaken markets, projecting an AI-fueled slump that could push unemployment up to 10.2% by 2028. “I would take it seriously, not literally,” said Nick Ferres, chief investment officer at Vantage Point Asset Management, speaking to Reuters. Reuters
Crypto sentiment remained sluggish. Bitcoin slipped 0.5% to around $64,113; ether hovered close to $1,852 with hardly any movement, according to data. Traders noted that XRP and other lesser-known tokens usually track bitcoin when macro headlines hit the wires.
The market’s undercurrents aren’t helping. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs—products that give investors access to bitcoin through their brokerage accounts—have posted steady outflows this year, according to MarketWatch. “This is a $6.9 billion buying gap from 2025,” CryptoQuant’s research chief Julio Moreno told MarketWatch. MarketWatch
Leverage cuts both ways when the mood shifts. Liquidations—forced selling triggered as leveraged trades unwind—have sped up the latest selloffs, with risk-off sentiment in play, IG analyst Axel Rudolph said Tuesday in a note.
XRP hasn’t had a defining trigger lately, so it often just mirrors broader sentiment. Ripple—the crypto company tied to XRP—remains tangled in a lengthy legal saga with the SEC, a situation that continues to color how bigger players discuss holding the token.
Still, bulls face a clear risk—should the tariff rate climb to 15% and the AI scare trade intensify, investors might continue shedding volatile holdings. That scenario could see bitcoin dragging XRP beneath its latest lows, especially with thin liquidity amplifying those moves more than anticipated.
Market eyes are turning to two upcoming events. Trump will speak to Congress at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and investors want specifics about tariffs and the White House’s take on the economy, Reuters said. Then Nvidia’s earnings hit on Wednesday, a key moment for risk sentiment that’s already bubbling through crypto.
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