XRP Ledger’s XRP token price steadied near the $3 mark after volatile sessions tested both buyers and sellers. The token briefly pushed higher but failed to break past $3, forcing traders to defend recent gains. Despite the tug-of-war, sentiment around XRP has not cooled.
Instead, attention has shifted toward a new catalyst now dominating discussions: the launch of a spot ETF. The buildup around its approval has added momentum to XRP’s narrative, pulling focus from daily fluctuations to the broader question of whether institutional inflows could alter the token’s trajectory. The price moves have become part of a larger story that investors are watching closely.
ETF Momentum Drives Institutional Flows into XRP
The optimism surrounding the spot ETF launch has already reshaped XRP’s market profile.
CoinShares data showed investment products linked to the token attracted $32.5 million in the week ending Sept. 12, more than double the $14.7 million recorded a week earlier. The sharp increase signaled that funds and traders had begun positioning before the ETF debut, treating it as a meaningful shift in liquidity dynamics.
Moreover, the bullish sentiment for XRP price spiked after Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek projected that the ETF could pull as much as $8 billion in inflows during its first year. Marszalek’s remarks echoed earlier expectations set by ETF analysts, who compared XRP’s setup to Bitcoin’s inflows following its own spot ETF approvals.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, underscored the importance of the REX-Osprey XRP ETF launch, calling it a litmus test for spot demand under the ‘33 Act structure. He stressed that futures-based XRP ETFs were already approaching $1 billion in assets, suggesting that appetite for regulated exposure had been growing steadily.
Such projections, while ambitious, resonated with the timing of XRP’s inflows. The doubling of weekly flows highlighted a willingness among some money managers to front-run the event. That early activity pointed to more than speculative enthusiasm. It indicated that institutional desks viewed the ETF as a credible gateway for deeper participation.
Achieving $8 billion would require sustained demand, yet the trend in recent weeks showed that momentum was building. The launch now represents more than a regulatory milestone; it has become a test case for whether XRP can translate hype into enduring market depth.
Chart Projections Add Fuel to ETF Narrative
The ETF speculation also spilled over into technical discussions, where traders framed long-term structures as cues for the next leg. JD, a market commentator, highlighted an ascending triangle on XRP USD pair’s monthly chart, describing it as a bullish setup that often precedes breakouts.
Yet the same analysis carried a warning. The analyst argued that such moves often end with sharp retracements once profit targets are met. JD pointed to XRP’s history of steep drawdowns. He noted how earlier breakouts gave way to crashes of more than 90%. In his view, the ETF hype risked becoming the liquidity exit for early players.
However, not everyone agreed with that picture. Dominus, an X-based independent analyst, drew attention to a cup-and-handle formation on the daily chart. He suggested the pattern left the door open for a surge toward $15 by 2025. The analyst’s projection leaned heavily on the idea that the XRP ETF launch would provide the momentum needed to validate the breakout. Where skeptics expected history to repeat with another selloff, he placed emphasis on new inflows that could anchor higher price ranges.
The readings underscored how the ETF launch acted as a lens for market psychology. The divergence revealed the weight placed on the ETF, turning technical structures into arguments about whether this time would be different.