By most measures, 2026 has been a strong year for Ripple: bank partnerships, clearing access, and an RLUSD stablecoin gaining real traction.
Any accurate XRP price prediction built on that story keeps assuming the token benefits from all that directly, but if you look closer at the data, so far it hasn't. The XRP price often moves independently of these corporate milestones.
Together with several industry experts who shared their opinions exclusively with ChangeNOW, we’re analyzing where the infrastructure and the token have gone separate ways, and what could bring the XRP price back on track to form a realistic price prediction.
Disclaimer:This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell crypto assets. Any views, opinions, or forward-looking statements reflect current market sentiment and publicly available information and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Key Takeaways: XRP Price Prediction 2026–2030
2026: XRP is stuck in a range. The XRP price has held between $1.00 and $1.20 for weeks. Trader sentiment is split roughly 50/50, and there's no clear catalyst to break the pattern.
2027–2029: institutional flows call the shots. CME already holds close to 17% of all XRP futures contracts. A return of ETF inflows to earlier 2026 levels could be the first sign of an XRP price move past $1.20.
2030: adoption decides the outcome. TradFi is already trading XRP through spot ETFs and CME futures. Continued ETF growth and wider use of the XRP Ledger for cross-border payments could build a stronger base for a long-term price prediction.
Where XRP Stands Now
TL;DR:The coin's price has settled around $1, which is 43% below its January 2026 peak. It's still easy to buy and sell because there's plenty of liquidity on exchanges, but overall trading volume and swap interest have been steadily declining since May.
As of July 2026, the XRP price is hovering around $1, roughly 43% below the $2.35 high it reached in January.
FAQ
No one can give a guaranteed XRP price prediction. XRP price moves depend on regulation, ETF flows, broader crypto sentiment, and supply from Ripple's monthly escrow releases, and all of those can shift on short notice.
No. XRP ranks as the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, around $65 billion as of August 2026 (data from CoinMarketCap). It has seven US spot ETFs, an active XRP Ledger, and daily trading volume in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The XRP price is well below its past peaks, but the asset is highly active.
"Crashing" overstates a bearish trend - there's no single event, more a long slide since its July 2025 cycle high of $3.65. A few things get cited as factors for the XRP price drop: the SEC settlement (closed August 2025) and ETF launches (November 2025) were both anticipated well in advance, so the market had already priced them in by the time they happened; Ripple's monthly escrow releases keep adding new tokens to supply; and crypto trading in 2026 has generally favored Bitcoin over altcoins.
The math is worth looking at for this extreme price prediction. XRP has about 62.5 billion tokens in circulation (CoinGecko, August 2026). A $1,000 XRP price would put its market cap near $62.5 trillion - over 25 times the size of the entire crypto market today, which sits around $2.2 trillion.
At a $100 XRP price, XRP's market cap would be roughly $6.25 trillion which is a few times larger than the entire crypto market's current size (~$2.2 trillion, CoinGecko, August 2026) and several times Bitcoin's own market cap today. This is useful for sizing up the scale of that price prediction, not for guessing if or when it happens.
Since that peak, the XRP price has been mostly moving in a sideway trend, bouncing between $1.10 and $1.65 without a clear break either way.
Trading volume has cooled off from the ETF-launch highs, but the overall market cap still holds XRP at sixth place among all cryptocurrencies. Meaning, liquidity is not a concern - there's plenty of XRP changing hands on major exchanges every day.
ChangeNOW's own swap data coincides with this story. We see how XRP swap volume across our supported networks went from a solid uptick in May to a steady monthly decline since, down to roughly -18% by July.
Ripple Latest News & Developments
The past two weeks brought a steady stream of Ripple announcements, and most of them didn't touch the XRP price directly. Ripple is actively expanding its partnerships and reach: Ripple Mint, Notabene, Mastercard, a full MiCA-covered license across 30 EU countries.
But nearly all of it centers on RLUSD, Ripple's own US dollar–backed stablecoin. That's a pattern this price prediction article comes back to later.
On the regulatory side: the CLARITY Act, the bill that would give XRP a clear legal status in the US and remove the main reason many institutions won't hold it, stalled again. Senate leadership said it won't pass before the summer break, just days after the Treasury Secretary called it close to done.
XRP Price History
To build a reliable XRP price prediction, we first need to look at the XRP price history. The asset has seen massive volatility over the past few years, heavily influenced by regulatory news, trading volume spikes, and broader crypto cycles.
During the last major cycle peak in July 2025, the XRP price reached a high of $3.65, pushing its market cap to near-record levels. However, as trading volume shifted and market dynamics cooled, the price corrected sharply. By January 2026, the XRP price had dropped to $2.35. As of late 2026, it trades around the $1.00 mark. This historical price action shows that while explosive growth is possible, sustained trading volume and a solid market cap are required to maintain those high price levels.
What The Crowd Is Saying About XRP
In short:Regular investors are tired of waiting — search interest and online discussions have dropped significantly. Experts explain this by pointing out that Ripple is currently focused on boring but essential foundational infrastructure (like payments). These structural improvements don't attract traders looking for a quick price prediction flip, which is why good news no longer triggers sudden XRP price jumps.
Broader sentiment around XRP in 2026 is cautious and somewhat confused.
Google Search interest in XRP has been declining steadily: -30% compared to a year ago.
Crypto Reddit tells a similar story. Recent threads forming an XRP price prediction swing between open disillusionment and cautious hope about a longer-term comeback.
Even engagement has thinned out - one post simply asks why there's been no news for ages.
ChangeNOW asked several crypto analysts and content creators for their read on XRP's current narrative, exclusively for this piece.
Paul, of Cryptofactor.net and a YouTube channel with the same name and 56.9k subscribers, ties the XRP’s value to a specific use case:
"The strongest narrative is XRP returning to its original purpose: payments. Stablecoins, tokenization and x402-style AI payments give that narrative fresh momentum, but price still needs to confirm the story."
“XRP is becoming more than just another crypto asset. More people are looking at it as infrastructure for global payments, especially as regulatory uncertainty has started to clear up. That shift is getting much more attention than short-term price movements.”
Why Doesn’t XRP Price React To All The News?
Put that sentiment up against the news covered above, and here’s what catches the eye: none of the genuine progress like RLUSD growth or new institutional deals, has translated into retail interest, actual demand or an XRP price movement.
And XRP is not alone in this. This trend shows up across the whole sector: once a project focuses on serious, structural improvements rather than flashy, dramatic escapades, it falls out of the conversation. Sad truth.
XRP Chart Analysis: Price Range, RSI And Open Interest
Key takeaway:The flow of money from large investment funds has dropped sharply compared to the spring. Right now, the market is at a stalemate: futures traders are split exactly 50/50 on whether the XRP price will go up or down. Because of this, the price is boxed in a very tight range.
Three metrics worth paying attention to right now to formulate an accurate price prediction.
We look at ETF flows to see where institutional investors are bringing their money.
For the past two months, the XRP price has been ping ponging between $1.00 and $1.20. It kept testing both edges but wasn’t able to break out and start a new trend.
If you look at the chart, the momentum indicator - RSI recently recovered from a deep drop in June and is now in a neutral territory.
Looks like both the XRP price and momentum are simply taking a breather, confirming that neither buyers nor sellers are in full control right now.
XRP Open Interest
Open interest metric tracks how much money is locked in active futures contracts: traders are either placing bets or walking away. Right now, total OI for XRP stands at $2.45 billion.
Here is what that money is doing to shape the overall crypto price predictions:
A pause after the drop: Back in April, there was almost $3.9 billion in this market. That number dropped to $1.5 billion in June. Since then, some money has come back, but the growth has stopped.
Institutions are here: CME accounts for nearly 17% of this money. Since CME is a platform for TradFi players, it shows Wall Street is actively trading XRP just like regular users.
A 50/50 split: Retail traders are mostly betting the price will go up. However, if you look at the entire market, the bets are split right down the middle. Half expect a bearish drop, and half expect a bullish rise. Just another day in crypto price predictions.
XRP Price Prediction 2026–2030
Before diving into specific timeframes, here is a compact XRP price prediction table summarizing the potential scenarios for the XRP price over the next few years based on market cap, sentiment, and volume data.
Year
Bearish Scenario
Base/Neutral Scenario
Bullish Scenario
2026
$0.85 – $0.95
$1.00 – $1.20
$1.35 – $1.50
2027–2029
$0.90 – $1.10
$1.20 – $1.80
$2.00 – $2.50
2030
$1.00 – $1.50
$1.80 – $3.00
$3.50 – $5.00+
XRP Price Prediction 2026
In a nutshell:Based on market data, past cycles, and experts, don't expect any crazy XRP price jumps anytime soon. For XRP to actually take off in the long run, it needs stable ETF inflows and broad adoption.
Right now, the market is simply taking a break. With trader bets split 50/50 and the daily charts flat, we shouldn't expect any sudden price moves.
For the next few weeks, our short-term XRP price prediction shows the token will likely keep bouncing between $1.00 and $1.20. Platforms like CoinCodex see the same quiet trend. Without big news to shake things up, the XRP price simply doesn't have a reason to leave this box.
XRP Price Prediction 2027–2029
Looking 12-24 months ahead, the focus of this price prediction shifts to Wall Street.
As expected, the early ETF hype has cooled down, but big players are still around - CME alone holds nearly 17% of all futures contracts.
What happens next heavily depends on that institutional money to drive the XRP price.
If ETF inflows pick up again and return to spring levels, the XRP price might finally push past the $1.20 mark. Exchanges like Kraken note that getting over this specific hurdle is the first real step toward a larger upward price prediction trend.
XRP Price Prediction 2030
Any long-term XRP price prediction depends mostly on actual adoption.
TradFi giants are already trading XRP, which proves they see it as a serious tool.
If spot ETFs keep growing and Ripple’s network handles more cross-border payments, XRP gets a solid foundation. Under those conditions, future XRP price growth will be driven by real, solid corporate demand, raising the overall market cap.
What Would Actually Need To Happen: Factors Affecting XRP Price
To look past the daily charts and build a solid price prediction, we asked a few active market analysts and content creators what in their opinion a real bullish case may look like, and more importantly, what bearish warning signs would prove it wrong.
The Bullish Scenario: Utility Must Equal Demand
Signing new partnerships is not enough for XRP to see a sustained upward XRP price trend. The growth of the network must translate into a direct need to buy and hold the token.
The team at Decentralised News, a platform dedicated to crypto education and market updates, summarized this perfectly:
"The bullish case for XRP in the mid-term holds as long as institutional access, XRP Ledger activity and Ripple’s expanding financial infrastructure translate into deeper liquidity and measurable demand for XRP itself. [...] Ripple and the XRP Ledger ecosystem can grow without every part of that growth necessarily creating proportional demand for XRP."
Paul, the analyst behind The Crypto Factor (and a popular voice on YouTube and X), adds that this fundamental demand needs to reflect on the price chart to support a high price prediction.
“The bullish case for XRP in the mid-term holds as long as it gets back into bullish structure and stops treating its previous all-time high like an electric fence.”
What happens if the bullish price prediction starts falling apart? When we asked about the bearish risks that the market is currently underestimating, the silver lining was: the market moves fast, and competition is fierce. If the bearish sentiment takes over, the XRP price could face heavy resistance.
The creators at CryptoRoyal, a channel focused on crypto insights and market trends, highlighted a major bearish blind spot for many investors:
"Competition. Stablecoins and other blockchain payment solutions are improving very quickly. Even with regulatory progress, XRP still has to compete for real-world adoption, and that’s something many investors don’t pay enough attention to."
CryptoRoyal also gave us a straightforward bearish warning sign to watch for.
“If adoption starts slowing down or large financial institutions stop building on or using Ripple’s network, that would be the first sign that the bullish outlook needs to be reconsidered."
Paul from The Crypto Factor echoed this harsh bearish reality check. He warned that utility only matters if it forces people to buy the coin, directly impacting the XRP price:
"The biggest risk is that nobody ends up needing XRP as much as XRP holders believe. Utility is only valuable when it creates real and sustained demand for the token."
The Multi-Year Waiting Game
Interestingly, if you observe XRP’s behavior across past cycles, you may notice the same historical habit: XRP tests your patience. And patience means a long-run price prediction.
And institutional investors are masters of the waiting game. When Bitwise Asset Management launched their spot XRP ETF, the firm’s leadership, CEO Hunter Horsley and CIO Matt Hougan, made it clear that Wall Street is not here for a quick daily XRP price flip. They are aiming at a multi-year structural shift:
"In 2025, we're watching digital assets take on real utility in the global economy, whether that's powering payments, building infrastructure, or earning a permanent role in diversified portfolios. XRP has operated successfully for a very long period of time at extremely low cost, processing massive transaction volumes. In the new crypto-forward regulatory regime, it stands on an equal playing field with other digital assets, and we are excited to help investors gain exposure to an asset that has the potential to fundamentally reshape how money moves worldwide."
Recent tracking data from CryptoQuant analysts also shows that whale selling pressure has dropped to some of its lowest levels in years. The largest investors are moving significantly fewer tokens to exchanges. Instead of cashing out during this boring sideways market or panicking over a bearish trend, the biggest holders are simply locking up their assets and waiting.
The takeaway: While regular traders complain about XRP's long periods of silence, the whales are using that exact same time to lock in and HODL.
Wrapping Up
XRP is for the patient. And whales don't mind waiting for their long-term XRP price prediction to play out.
Ripple has solid institutional backing, but the XRP price is still stagnant in the $1.00 to $1.20 range while futures traders remain split evenly between bullish and bearish outlooks.
XRP's narrative is shifting toward real infrastructure and market adoption:
Ripple's RLUSD is a native, enterprise-grade stablecoin built for the XRP Ledger. It's designed to improve liquidity and make cross-border settlements easier for institutional partners.
XRP also faces heavy competition from dominant stablecoins like USDT and USDC, not to mention other fast L1 and L2 networks. For XRP, the main challenge right now is proving its value - showing that expanding ecosystem activity actually creates direct demand for the token and increases its market cap.
Factors that can trigger the XRP price to move and alter any price prediction:
steady ETF inflows - watch those
actual utility from RLUSD
growing real-world network usage and higher trading volume
Check our article on ETF outflows to learn more about the concept itself, get exclusive expert insights and a clearer understanding of ETFs’ impact on any crypto price prediction.
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