XRP Faces Bearish Storm: Traders Bet on Price Crash

XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the Ripple network, is facing a bearish onslaught as traders bet on a potential price crash. The token's outlook appears grim, with traders going short and exchange inflows increasing.

Net inflows to spot XRP centralized exchanges turned positive early Thursday after days of outflows, putting the token in focus following its performance on its native decentralized exchange (DEX). Over $15 million in XRP flowed to centralized exchanges on Thursday, led by deposits to Bybit and Kraken, according to Coinglass data. Spot inflows to exchanges may mark an intention to sell tokens on the open market, dampening chances of a rally.

Meanwhile, 8-hour funding rates in the XRP perpetual futures markets stood at -0.0065% as of Thursday morning, implying a bias for short positions that profit from price drops. Notably, XRP's funding rates were more negative than ETH and BTC, indicating a stronger bearish sentiment.

XRP trades below several key moving averages, with the 10-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $2.84 and 21-day EMA at $2.88. Trading below these moving averages suggests a bearish short-term outlook. However, the 100-day simple moving average (SMA) is just above $2, and the 200-day SMA is at $1.30, both below the current price, indicating a bullish longer-term trend.

Immediate resistance at $2.49, followed by the $2.60 level, could revive the bullish outlook if breached. A move past these levels would set the stage for a run to the $3 mark, which XRP breached in January for the first time since 2018.

XRP's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) was just over 36 in Asian hours, placing it in the neutral zone. Traditionally, RSI values above 70 indicate overbought conditions, while values below 30 suggest oversold conditions. An RSI around 50 is considered neutral.