NEW YORK, May 23, 2026, 05:20 EDT
XRP slid to around $1.31 on Saturday, extending losses from earlier in the week. The Ripple-linked token neared a key short-term level on some traders’ charts. According to CoinMarketCap, XRP was down 3.9% over 24 hours, with roughly $2.16 billion in trading volume and a market cap close to $81 billion.
XRP keeps falling behind the rest of crypto, even as the broader market drifts lower. CoinGecko numbers put XRP down 7.4% in the last week, while the overall crypto market slid 4.1%. XRP now sits fifth by market cap.
Markets see a holiday-weekend schedule, not the usual Monday open. The New York Stock Exchange has Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, on the 2026 holiday calendar, so U.S. equities and listed crypto-linked products won’t trade until Tuesday. Spot crypto trading keeps going.
XRP stood out on inflows. Investors pulled $1.07 billion from digital-asset products in the week to May 15, CoinShares said. Bitcoin funds lost $982 million, ether funds were down $249 million. XRP added $67.6 million, Solana $55.1 million. “Altcoins held up notably well,” CoinShares research head James Butterfill wrote. He said investors were “looking past Bitcoin and Ethereum for selective exposure.” CoinShares
Price action looked shaky. FXStreet markets analyst John Isige said Friday that “XRP remains below major averages,” with some pressure building around $1.35 support, where buyers have stepped in before. Isige added that if XRP breaks below that level, traders are eyeing $1.30 as the next place for demand. He also noted exchange-traded funds hadn’t done enough to improve the short-term view. FXStreet
Senate crypto bill keeps regulation in the XRP mix
Even as XRP charts stay technical, regulation is still in focus. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee sent the Clarity Act forward last week, a bill that would set out if crypto tokens are securities, commodities or something different. “It’s taken years of work to get to this point,” Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, told Reuters. Reuters
XRP has seen real developments. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its case against Ripple Labs in August 2025, but kept a $125 million fine and blocked institutional sales of XRP. Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said this was “the end” of the case. Reuters
Risk assets got little help from macro factors. U.S. consumer sentiment dropped to an all-time low in May, with inflation fears and cost-of-living concerns ramping up, Reuters said Friday. That gave traders one more reason to stay on the sidelines before the long weekend.
Shorter U.S. trading hours are on tap this week, but markets still face new data. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, watched by the Fed, is set for release on May 28, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This inflation gauge measures prices consumers pay for goods and services.
Bullish flow around XRP may disappear fast if the token drops under $1.30 while bitcoin stays weak. Holiday trading is thin, which can make any move look bigger. The market is also watching for inflation data—if it runs hot, traders could shift back to rates, the dollar and the question of risk appetite.
Near term, the test is at $1.30. If XRP holds that level, ETF inflows could keep it in the rotation. If it drops through, the weekend’s slip looks more like a broader market still selling into strength than just an XRP move.
