XRP is set to close February in negative territory despite increased institutional adoption and strong whale accumulation. The token trades at $1.43, down more than 30% from its early-month level near $2.05. Broader crypto weakness and cautious investor sentiment continue to weigh on price action.
Historically, February has been difficult for XRP. Since 2014, the token has declined in seven of 11 Februarys. The steepest drops were 33.4% in February 2014 and 22.1% in February 2018. February 2026 is following that trend. XRP fell to a monthly low near $1.11 before rebounding to the $1.40 range.
With only days left in the month, XRP would need a rally of more than 40% to post a positive close. Analysts consider that scenario unlikely under current market conditions.
Notably, XRP’s market capitalization stands above $87 billion, with 24-hour trading volume around $1.7 billion. The token remains about 61% below its July 2025 all-time high of $3.66.
Adoption on the XRP Ledger continues to grow despite price weakness. Tokenized real-world assets on the network surpassed $354 million over the past month. Reports indicate that 63% of tokenized U.S. Treasurys are issued on XRPL.
Financial institutions, including DBS Group and Franklin Templeton, are developing infrastructure for trading and lending tokenized money market fund units on the ledger. UK-based Aviva has also tapped the Ripple ledger to issue traditional funds.
In payments, Deutsche Bank is partnering with Ripple Payments as part of efforts to modernize cross-border transfers. The move comes as financial institutions explore blockchain alternatives to traditional systems.
Seven XRP spot exchange-traded funds now trade in the United States. Combined assets under management exceed $1 billion, with roughly 790 million XRP locked in funds. The ETFs recorded about 43 consecutive trading days without outflows after launch.
However, flows have turned mixed in February. Between Feb. 11 and Feb. 20, the funds recorded only one positive inflow day, totaling $4.5 million on Feb. 13. During the second week of February, XRP ETFs attracted $45 million in inflows, while Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw combined outflows of $229 million.
With the current market structure, Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick recently cut his 2026 XRP price target by 65% to $2.80 following the February decline. At the same time, the bank raised its 2030 target to $28, citing long-term structural growth.
On-chain data from Santiment shows wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP accumulated 3.17 billion tokens since October 2025. These addresses now control 17.04% of the circulating supply, the highest share recorded. In contrast, wallets holding between 100,000 and 10 million XRP distributed about 3 billion tokens over the same period.
Exchange balances fell from 3.76 billion XRP in October to around 1.7 billion in February, a 55% decline. Funding rates on Binance recently dropped to negative 0.028%, the lowest level since April 2025. In previous cycles, deeply negative funding rates preceded short-term rebounds.
XRP’s historical volatility indicator has also dropped to 96, matching levels last seen in June 2024 before a rally later that year.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Technical indicators remain mixed. XRP trades below its 50-day moving average, which is declining, while the weekly 200-day moving average continues to trend upward.
Related: XRP Slips Below $1.40 Support Despite Coinbase Utility Boost
If XRP holds above $1.35, it could stabilize near current levels into month-end. A break below $1.30 may extend losses. Based on current data, XRP appears likely to close February below $1.50, marking another negative February even as institutional engagement and long-term projections remain in focus.
