Crypto markets are taking a breather after a volatile week. Bitcoin climbed above $80,000 on Tuesday for the first time in months, then cooled toward the $78,000 area on Wednesday. Traders are now looking ahead to tonight’s core Personal Consumption Expenditures, or PCE, inflation data and Nvidia earnings, which Decrypt said could shape market tone heading into Jackson Hole.
Risk appetite has improved this month, but the gains have not been evenly distributed across the market. XRP is now giving back part of its rally faster than the broader field.
According to CoinMarketCap data cited in the report, XRP fell 6.23% in the past 24 hours to around $1.38, making it the worst performer among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
That marks a sharp reversal for a token that had stood out as one of the market’s strongest movers until this week. Over the past seven days, XRP is still up 35.55%, trailing only Hyperliquid’s 38.65% weekly gain among the top 10. It also remains well ahead of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and every other major coin named in the report.
Decrypt traced the pullback to the speed of the earlier move. XRP jumped from roughly $1.00 on Aug. 18 to an intraday high near $1.69 just four days later, briefly touching the psychologically important $1.70 level. After Bitcoin pulled back from its own $80,000 high, altcoins broadly moved lower, and XRP followed.
One datapoint in the report points in a different direction from a full risk exit. XRP-linked exchange-traded funds, described by Decrypt as traditional funds that track the token’s price without requiring direct ownership of the asset, have recorded nine straight days of net inflows. The report said that pattern suggests a leverage unwind rather than institutions rushing out.
XRP returns to the $1.40 area
On the daily chart, XRP opened at $1.4344, reached a high of $1.4513, and was trading near $1.3790 at the time referenced in the report. That leaves the token down 3.86% on the day’s candle itself, a separate measure from the 24-hour decline.
The move puts XRP back in the $1.40 zone that flipped from resistance to support during last week’s breakout. Decrypt noted that this was also the level where XRP first reclaimed its 200-day exponential moving average, or EMA 200, a chart point some traders had flagged as an early sign of a possible trend reversal. Whether $1.40 holds from here will help determine if the current move remains a standard pullback or turns into a deeper slide.
Technical signals are mixed
The report said indicators are not lining up cleanly.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, stands at 66.7. That reading still leans bullish, but it is close to the 70 level where traders often begin taking profits.
The Average Directional Index, or ADX, is at 44.1, well above the 25 threshold often used to confirm that a trend is in place. At the same time, the positive directional line, DI+, remains above the negative directional line, DI-, which keeps the short-term tilt on the bullish side.
Moving averages tell a different story. The short-term and long-term averages referenced in the report, EMA 50 and EMA 200, still show the shorter average below the longer one. Decrypt described that as a structural remnant of the broader downtrend that has shaped most of XRP’s chart this year, even after its sharpest rally in months.
Bitcoin and macro events remain key variables
For XRP and the rest of the altcoin market, Bitcoin’s ability to hold the $77,000 to $78,000 range remains important. The next scheduled catalysts named in the report are the core PCE release and Nvidia earnings, either of which could shift the market in one direction or the other.
Daily close at $1.40 is the immediate line to watch
For XRP specifically, the near-term battle is narrower. If the token holds $1.40, the seven-day rally can still be read as intact, with the latest move treated as a normal cooldown. If XRP loses that level on a daily closing basis, Decrypt said the token’s own short-side signals suggest sellers could press toward the lower edge of the support zone built since the August breakout.
The report also stated that the author’s views and opinions are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.