XRP Slides Toward $1.40 Even as ETF Cash Keeps Coming

XRP spent the final hours of the session grinding toward $1.40, and the $3.14 million in ETF inflows did little to change that direction. The price action left some desks wondering whether fresh capital alone can offset the heavier technical headwinds that have built up.

Why Fresh ETF Money Failed to Lift the Price

Inflows into the spot ETFs have been steady, yet the market treated them as background noise rather than a catalyst. Volume stayed light through the London close, and bids thinned quickly whenever the pair tested the $1.43 handle. That pattern has repeated enough times this month for short-term models to flag it as a sign of distribution rather than accumulation.

Bearish signals are stacking up on the daily chart. The relative strength index has rolled over without reaching oversold territory, and the 50-day moving average now sits above price for the first time in six weeks. A clean break below $1.38 would open a test of the late-October lows near $1.32. Why does that matter when money is still entering the ETFs? Because the flows appear concentrated in a handful of vehicles that have limited impact on spot liquidity during thin hours.

XRPL Upgrades and XRPN Trading in Focus

Attention has also turned to the ledger itself. The XRPL upgrade scheduled for the second half of November includes changes to transaction ordering that some developers expect will improve throughput but could temporarily increase fee volatility. At the same time, XRPN trading volumes have ticked higher on certain offshore venues, though the activity has not yet shown up in the more closely watched on-chain metrics.

Traders who have followed XRP through previous cycles note that similar upgrade periods often produced choppy price action until the changes were fully priced in. The current setup feels no different. Support near $1.40 has held three times since mid-October, but each defense has required heavier volume than the prior one. That suggests the level is losing defenders rather than gaining them.

What the Latest Price Action Actually Shows

The dip has been orderly so far, which is worth noting after the sharper moves seen in late September. Still, the lack of follow-through buying after the ETF data release caught a few desks off guard. Risk-sensitive pairs such as AUD/USD and NZD/USD also softened in tandem, hinting that broader sentiment rather than XRP-specific news is driving the tone.

Anyone long the token into this tape has seen stops triggered in clusters around $1.42. The next obvious line sits at $1.38, where open interest remains elevated from earlier in the month. A move through that area on increased volume would likely force another round of positioning adjustments before the weekend.

There's no guarantee the ETF inflows accelerate from here, and the technical picture could worsen quickly if macro data later this week surprises to the upside. Watch the reaction around $1.40 closely over the next two sessions; the level has become the clearest line in the sand for both bulls and bears. Position sizing still counts when moves accelerate on thin volume.