XRP News: XRP Price Holds Near $1.38 After Ripple Unlocks 1B XRP Token

XRP News Today: XRP Price Holds Steady Near $1.38 After Token Unlock

XRP news today centers on one event. Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP from escrow on September 1. The XRP price sat near $1.37 to $1.39 as the release hit the chain.

The unlock came in three parts. On-chain data showed transfers of 500 million, 400 million, and 100 million XRP moving out of Ripple-controlled escrow wallets.

That is the full monthly amount. But traders know the headline number rarely tells the whole story.

Will the XRP escrow unlock crash the price?

Probably not, based on how Ripple has handled past unlocks. The company almost never keeps the full 1 billion XRP.

Ripple has a pattern. It typically sends 600 million to 900 million XRP straight back into new escrow contracts within hours of release.

That leaves roughly 100 million to 400 million XRP for actual use. Those tokens can fund operations, institutional payments, or liquidity for cross-border transfers through Ripple Payments.

Many of those transfers happen through private OTC desks. That means they often skip public exchange order books entirely, so they don't create the sudden sell pressure some traders fear.

In August, close to 700 million XRP went back into escrow. If Ripple follows a similar path in September, the net new supply hitting the open market would again land well under the 1 billion headline figure.

Where does XRP price stand right now

XRP traded around $1.37 to $1.39 on September 1, 2026. That's a modest gain, roughly 1.7% over the prior 24 hours.

The token is up about 30.8% over the past 30 days. It has climbed close to 14.5% over the last 90 days too.

Zooming out, the picture is more mixed. XRP still sits well below levels seen earlier in the year, and the broader crypto market cap slipped nearly 3% in the same 24-hour window as Bitcoin dominance rose.

What are the key support and resistance levels for XRP

Analysts are pointing to a tight range right now. Support sits around $1.35 to $1.38. Resistance is clustered near $1.53 to $1.55.

XRP is trading above its daily EMA20, EMA50, and EMA200. That's typically read as a bullish setup on the daily chart.

Daily RSI sits near 61, which leaves room to move higher before the market looks overbought. A daily close below the $1.33 EMA200 would weaken that structure and point to a deeper pullback.

Shorter-term charts tell a different story. Hourly RSI has dipped below 50, and price is trading beneath its short-term EMA cluster. That suggests sellers have the edge on the smallest timeframes, even as the bigger picture leans bullish.

Some traders are also watching a tightening 4-hour triangle pattern near $1.38. Shrinking volatility inside a pattern like that often precedes a larger directional move, though which way it breaks isn't something a chart can promise in advance.

What could push XRP price higher or lower from here

A few catalysts are on deck. The Senate is expected to hold a cloture vote on the CLARITY Act around September 15. That vote would only move the bill toward full debate, not guarantee it becomes law, but it's still a date the market is watching closely.

On the demand side, XRP ETFs keep pulling in fresh money. Spot XRP ETFs logged their strongest weekly inflow of the year recently, and cumulative net inflows have pushed past $1.6 billion.

Liquidation data shows longs are taking the bigger hit right now. Over the past hour, long liquidations totaled $447.90K against just $4.93K in shorts. That gap held over four hours too, with $518.00K in long liquidations versus $249.43K in shorts.

Zoom out to 24 hours and the picture evens out, with $1.25M in long liquidations against $1.30M in shorts. That shift from a heavy short-side squeeze early on to a more balanced full-day picture suggests the market chewed through over-leveraged long positions during the session.

Trader positioning also leans long. Binance's XRP/USDT account ratio sits at 2.4211, and OKX shows a similar 2.51 ratio. Binance's top traders are even more skewed, with a 2.7355 account ratio and a 2.2276 ratio by position size.

That's a market where more accounts, and more capital, are betting on higher prices than lower ones, even as short-term momentum stays shaky.

Some analysts using Elliott Wave counts have floated a more ambitious path, with targets stretching toward $1.88, then $4.11, and eventually $7.07 if $1.38 support holds and a new wave structure forms.

That kind of projection is speculative and depends on several assumptions playing out in sequence, so it's worth treating as one scenario among many rather than a fixed outcome.

XRP price prediction: the near-term outlook

If XRP holds the $1.35 to $1.38 zone, the more measured technical path points toward $1.45 to $1.55 next, with a clean break above $1.55 potentially opening a run toward $1.68.

Losing $1.30 on a daily close would flip that outlook and could send price back toward the $1.26 area.

None of this is guaranteed. Crypto markets can move on headlines, on liquidity shifts, or on nothing obvious at all. The unlock itself is a known, scheduled event, but how the market digests it alongside the CLARITY Act vote and ETF flows will likely decide XRP's next real move.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice, or any other form of professional advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and carry significant risk of loss. Always conduct your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.