NEW YORK, Feb 26, 2026, 17:23 EST — Trading after the bell
- XRP slipped roughly 6% in the last 24 hours, trading close to $1.40.
- Risk assets took a late hit, echoing Wall Street’s pullback after Nvidia.
- Spot XRP ETF flow numbers are in focus for traders, with Friday’s options expiry also drawing attention.
XRP slid roughly 6% in the past day, changing hands near $1.39 late Thursday after swinging between $1.39 and $1.49, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Crypto wrapped up a choppy session with losses, after an early rally tied to Nvidia’s earnings fizzled out. “Nvidia beat earnings expectations, helping sustain a broader risk-on tone across global markets,” Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev wrote in an email to Barron’s. Barron’s
The mood shifted later in the day. Nvidia slid 5.5%, despite projecting $78 billion in first-quarter revenue, and U.S. equities edged lower as investors scrutinized big-tech price tags, according to Reuters. Bitcoin lost about 2.2%, while ether shed roughly 3.7%.
Investors are eyeing whether the newly launched U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs—funds that track the digital token’s price and trade like equities—will help stabilize demand. On Wednesday, net inflows hit roughly $3.09 million, according to data from SoSoValue. But over in the derivatives market, open interest in XRP futures dropped to its lowest level since January 2025, FXStreet noted.
XRP kept up its volatility, notching a 6.3% gain on Wednesday before pulling back Thursday, according to historical figures from Investing.com.
XRP’s fate is largely tangled up with Ripple Labs, the company behind software for moving money across borders. Ever since the SEC filed its lawsuit against Ripple in 2020, the token has reacted sharply to U.S. regulatory news.
The SEC wrapped up its case last year, Reuters reported, clearing the legal uncertainty while keeping a $125 million penalty intact and abandoning the final appeals.
Still, the trade is fragile. Should equity markets keep falling and ETF flows remain light, XRP could be back testing its recent lows before long.
All eyes are now on Friday, Feb. 27, as roughly $10.5 billion in bitcoin options come up for expiry—an event that can inject extra volatility. “Friday’s $10.5 billion monthly BTC options expiry could decide the market direction,” Mudrex lead quant analyst Akshat Siddhant told The Economic Times. m.economictimes.com
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