As XRP bullish momentum stalls, a community analyst has highlighted a critical condition that could prevent the token from sliding to $1.80.

XRP kicked off 2026 on a strong footing, rallying from around $1.84 to roughly $2.41 earlier this week. However, that momentum quickly faded. As the broader market pulled back, XRP surrendered most of its gains, sliding to around $2.07 yesterday.

Bearish Pressure Stalls XRP Bullish Run

Amid the growing uncertainty over XRP’s next move, analyst ‘CRYPTO CAPTAIN’ warns that the token could face further downside if bulls fail to regain control.

In his analysis, CAPTAIN shared a chart showing that XRP has been trading within a descending triangle since October 2025. According to the chart, XRP broke out of this formation earlier this month, climbing to about $2.40, but the rally stalled.

CAPTAIN noted that XRP has already confirmed a breakout from its descending channel. However, instead of extending the rally, the price is now pulling back to retest a critical support zone around $2.05–$2.10.

Notably, this zone previously served as resistance, underscoring its importance in holding as support to preserve bullish momentum. As a result, bulls must defend this area to keep the rebound scenario intact.

XRP Risks Dropping to $1.80: CAPTAIN

According to CAPTAIN’s analysis, XRP must attract strong buying pressure and secure a daily close with a bullish structure to confirm the breakout and pave the way for another leg higher. Conversely, he warned that if the price fails to turn bullish before the daily close, it would signal weakening demand at support and heighten the risk of further downside.

In that case, sellers could reclaim control, increasing the probability of a deeper pullback. CAPTAIN specifically identified $1.80 as the next downside target.

Notably, XRP last traded near $1.80 in late December 2025, but has remained above that level so far this month. Meanwhile, XRP is slightly above the highlighted support level, trading at $2.15.

CAPTAIN emphasized that timing remains critical in shaping XRP’s next move, as failure to reverse before the daily close could still open the door to a decline toward $1.80.

At its current price, XRP is down 1.09% on the day, although it remains up 13.64% over the past seven days with a 30-day gain of approximately 2.95%.

An analyst has urged XRP holders to remain patient, as the coin has the potential to reach new all-time highs and reward those who did not sell.

Specifically, market watcher “Xauluax” shared this sentiment in his latest TradingView commentary, as XRP continues to test the patience of holders. The cryptocurrency raised optimism when it rallied 30% in less than one week, from around $1.84 to $2.41.

However, over the last few days, the coin has given back a considerable part of this gain, falling to a low of $2.06 yesterday. As the market started to panic again, XRP bounced from the low to trade at $2.13 at the time of writing.

XRP Looks Good to DCA Here

Meanwhile, Xauluax still believes that XRP would change hands at much higher prices than it currently trades at. As a result, he recommended holding through the storms, insisting that those who do would reap the reward.

Further, he highlighted that this is a great place to start dollar-cost averaging (DCA) into XRP. For the uninitiated, this strategy involves gradually increasing exposure to an asset at different prices rather than a one-time buy, helping investors secure a better entry price.

The analyst noted that XRP and most other cryptocurrencies in his radar have been acting as though DCA is the best thing to do. As the market continued to fluctuate, he suggested that enthusiasts DCA as much as possible in preparation for the subsequent bullish price development.

New All-Time High on the Horizon

Notably, he added that he believes some cryptocurrencies will soon reach new all-time highs, including XRP. The fourth-largest cryptocurrency remained the only asset in the top five by market cap to not hit a new all-time high in 2025, failing to breach its 2018 peak of $3.84 per CoinMarketCap.

The commentator sees this changing, but emphasized it might take some time. Meanwhile, he highlighted two possible targets for XRP, both of which surpass its current all-time high.

An accompanying chart shows he expects XRP to hold its current Fibonacci support between $1.8 and $2.1, which could trigger an upside move. His first target is $5, which represents a 134% increase from the current market price.

Subsequently, he predicted a push to $9, over a 4x, or 322%, increase from here. 

Notably, this aligns with the conservative target shared by the top exchange, Uphold. In December, the trading platform highlighted a prediction from xAI’s Grok, which estimated that XRP would reach between $9 and $13 at the peak of this bull cycle.

Steph is Crypto, a well-known market analyst, has identified what he believes is a “powerful” RSI Signal on the XRP weekly chart, anticipating an upward push.

Steph revealed this in his latest commentary on XRP’s price action, as the altcoin records a sustained corrective wave following the rebound effort earlier in the year. Specifically, after soaring 29% from $1.87 at the start of the year to $2.41 by Jan. 6, XRP faced resistance alongside the rest of the crypto market, now down 12% from that peak.

XRP’s RSI Break Trend

However, while the current price situation warrants caution, Steph believes XRP has the potential to push further upward, considering signals from the RSI momentum indicator. Notably, Steph confirmed that the weekly RSI has repeated a pattern that has led to impressive price upswings on three occasions since 2024.

For context, the RSI indicator features two lines: the primary RSI line in yellow and the RSI-based moving average (MA) in white. Specifically, data from the accompanying chart confirms that each time the RSI line moves above the MA on the weekly timeframe, what typically follows is a massive price spike.

The first time this happened in 2024 was in early July, and the XRP price responded by soaring from $0.47 to a high of $0.66 by the end of July, representing a 40% rise within four weeks. Interestingly, the pattern played out again in early November 2024, leading to XRP’s explosive 480% rise from $0.5 to $2.9 by December 2024. This coincided with the Trump-led rally at the time.

After months of choppy price movements, this pattern re-emerged in late June 2025. What followed was an XRP price surge from $2.018 to the current all-time high of $3.65 in July. This marked an 80% uptick within a month.

“You Have No Idea What’s Coming for XRP”

Steph has now confirmed that the RSI break has again played out, as XRP looks to recover from the devastating impact of Q4 2025’s bearish pressure. While XRP has since reclaimed the $2 mark, establishing support at the base, Steph chose not to present any price targets for the recent RSI break. Instead, in his video commentary, he insisted that investors “have no idea what’s coming for XRP.”

Meanwhile, for the short term, crypto analytical account “More Crypto Online” confirmed that XRP has found solid support around the 50% retracement mark, which aligns with the $2.09 price. According to him, while this support keeps hopes of a further upward push alive, XRP needs to maintain the Thursday lows around $2.06 to sustain such hopes. He called attention to resistance levels at $2.19 and $2.34.

The XRP price could reach unprecedented heights if XRP’s market cap ever matched the valuation of Bitcoin, silver, or Apple.

XRP’s 2025 dream failed to materialize despite multiple achievements attained by the crypto asset during the year. After an impressive surge to $3.65 in July 2025, XRP entered a downward phase, with the bearish momentum picking up in Q4. Overall, XRP eventually closed 2025 at $1.84.

Analysts Remain Unfazed Despite XRP’s Bearish Spell

This poor performance also impacted the crypto asset’s market cap, pushing it below the list of top 3 crypto assets by valuation (excluding stablecoins) as 2025 came to a close. Specifically, XRP began 2025 with a market cap of $119.4 billion, and eventually soared to a peak of $216.69 billion. This represented the crypto asset’s all-time high market valuation.

However, as the downtrend began, XRP’s market cap eventually lost the $200 billion mark, and closed the year at $111.6 billion despite the token seeing an increase in its circulating supply last year. Now, XRP has added $10 billion to its market cap this year, holding on at $121.1 billion. Despite this, it remains far below the all-time peak.

Nonetheless, most market commentators have maintained their bullish stance, predicting lofty prices that could push XRP’s market cap to incredible heights, even above the $216 billion peak. Amid these projections, we recently assessed what the XRP price could rise to if XRP ever matched the market caps of some of the most valuable assets globally.

XRP Price if It Matches Bitcoin, Silver, or Apple’s Market Cap

The first asset on the list is Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has grown from a $5.72 billion valuation in January 2014 to become a $1.79 trillion asset at press time, representing an increase of nearly 30,000%. 

At the current position, Bitcoin is the eighth-largest asset by market cap globally. If XRP claimed the $1.79 trillion market cap of BTC, its price would surge to $29.5 per token, nearly $30, considering the circulating supply of 60.67 billion tokens.

Meanwhile, the second asset on our list is silver (XAG), which saw an impressive run in 2025. Silver now boasts a market cap of $4.068 trillion, making it the third-largest asset globally, only behind gold (XAU) and Nvidia. If XRP matched silver’s valuation, its price would rise to $67, representing a 3,184% increase from the current price of $2.04.

For the third asset, we considered Apple (AAPL), which has been on an upward trend since August 2025, when it dropped to $202 per share. AAPL now trades at $271, with a market cap of $4.021 trillion, ranking as the fourth-largest asset by valuation. If XRP claimed Apple’s market cap, the price would rise to $66.27, only slightly below its value with silver’s market cap.

Investors who commit $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 into XRP today could either see their investments skyrocket or dump in the next 10 years.

XRP has been one of the most successful crypto assets in the market, as it has continued to maintain a top 5 position despite launching 13 years ago and witnessing an extensive legal battle when the U.S. SEC sued Ripple in December 2020. Despite this lawsuit lasting for nearly five years, XRP still maintains a 35,000% all-time increase, according to CoinMarketCap.

Could XRP Still Yield Life-Changing Gains

For perspective, this means anyone who invested $10,000 into XRP when it began trading in 2013 would today be sitting on a whopping $3.5 million. Interestingly, several critics believe that, with these gains, XRP has exhausted its uptrend potential. They argue that anyone who invests in XRP today may not see similar life-changing gains.

However, multiple analysts disagree with this sentiment, suggesting instead that XRP still has more room for growth. For instance, in November, Pumpius, an XRP community commentator, argued that investors could actually retire their bloodlines with XRP. According to him, the market is still early.

These commentaries have resulted in several investors anticipating massive gains with XRP. Some of these market participants believe their modest investments worth $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 could transform into something enormous if XRP gains momentum in the future.

Amid these expectations, we recently evaluated how much investments of $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 in XRP could turn into over the next decade. Notably, this would depend on how well XRP performs within the period under consideration, which remains contested amid multiple opinions.

Potential Worth of $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 in XRP by 2036

As a result, we asked AI chatbot Grok to consider these predictions and come up with a single bullish forecast for XRP’s price for 2036. In response, Grok predicted that XRP could reach $50 in a bullish scenario, representing a 2,327% increase from the current price of $2.06. Grok considered institutional adoption, Ripple’s growth, ETF inflows, and XRP’s utility.

Today, $1,000 would procure 485 XRP tokens, while $5,000 would amass about 2,427 tokens. Notably, investors who choose to go the extra mile by committing $10,000 at current prices would purchase 4,854 XRP tokens.

Notably, if XRP ever claimed the $50 price predicted by Grok, the 485 tokens, procured with $1,000 today, would soar to a worth of $24,250, representing gains of around $23,000. Meanwhile, for the $5,000 investment, which pulled in 2,427 XRP, the investor would see their bag rise to $121,350. 

However, with the $10,000 commitment, XRP would yield $242,700 if it hit the $50 mark, marking a $232K profit within a decade. Nonetheless, it is important to note that an XRP rise to $50 by 2036 is not a guarantee. Notably, XRP may surge higher than this target or fail to reach it depending on its fundamentals and the broader crypto market.

While Bitcoin is still trading around the $90K level, on-chain data shows that momentum may be slowing.

CryptoZeno, an analyst at CryptoQuant, points to the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio as an early warning sign. The metric has started to trend lower after failing to stay near levels that typically signal overvaluation.

This suggests that even though prices remain high, fewer holders are seeing their profits grow. In other words, gains across the network are no longer expanding as quickly. This points to a cooling risk appetite in the market, despite Bitcoin’s price still holding up.

Notably, this analysis comes as Bitcoin attempted to reach the $95K price level this week but was unsuccessful. Bitcoin, which opened the year at $87,600, saw its value rise to $94,789 on January 5 before facing resistance. The move briefly stirred optimism that the Bitcoin bull run was back.

However, the price has since dipped back below the $90K level. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $89,000. CryptoZeno’s analysis attempts to explain why momentum is slowing so quickly after just beginning.

Long-Term Bitcoin Holders More Willing to Sell

The analyst noted that divergence between Bitcoin’s price action and its on-chain valuation hints at a change in market structure. Long-term holders are more willing to sell at high prices, while most new buyers are short-term traders.

In past cycles, this pattern usually marked a transition. Instead of prices continuing strongly upward, the market often entered a phase of distribution and consolidation, where further gains were harder to sustain without new, confident buyers.

Notably, even though the MVRV shows some cooling, it is still well above historical levels. This means Bitcoin is far from a major sell-off or being deeply undervalued. However, it also places the market in an uncomfortable middle ground.

Prices aren’t low enough to attract strong bargain hunters, yet momentum isn’t strong enough to support a lasting premium. In this situation, Bitcoin can be more sensitive to bad news, with pullbacks happening faster and sentiment shifting quickly.

Consolidation or Deeper Correction More Likely

CryptoZeno says that unless the MVRV stabilizes and starts rising again, the outlook favors slowing momentum rather than renewed strength. The market isn’t fully risk-off, but it’s more likely to move sideways or correct than continue its previous uptrend.

Essentially, Bitcoin is holding steady, but on-chain data suggests that pushing higher could be more difficult without stronger conviction from buyers.

BTC to Remain in Boring Sideways, Capital Shift to Metals

Separately, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju predicts that Bitcoin will see a “boring sideways” grind in the first quarter of 2026. He argues that capital inflows have “dried up,” with investors shifting back to stocks and precious metals.

Ju expects BTC to avoid a major crash, but flat movement would go against historical trends, as January typically sees modest gains followed by stronger returns in February and March.

While Ju is cautious, other experts are bullish. Tim Draper expects 2026 to be “big” for Bitcoin, and Bitwise’s Ryan Rasmussen predicts new all-time highs.

Despite growing bearish calls, a top market analyst remains convinced that XRP will rally to double digits when the current accumulation pattern concludes.

Notably, several analysts have sounded unconvinced in the continuance of the early-year XRP rally. The cryptocurrency surged to a high of $2.41 earlier this week, up from around $1.84 on January 1, outpacing gains in assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB.

For context, Peter Brandt remains skeptical, implying that XRP would need to surge much higher to confirm its bullish reversal.

However, top technical analyst ChartNerd believes otherwise. He suggested in a commentary today that XRP may have started an uptrend with the likelihood of pushing its price to double digits.

XRP Rebounds from Key Support Area

ChartNerd noted that the recent price recovery, which saw XRP rally over 30%, meant it bounced from the lower support trendline of a vertical accumulation structure. A late-December dump took it to the support area, but bulls have defended that crucial demand zone, sparking a strong rebound.

Meanwhile, the vertical accumulation structure is part of a broader rectangular bull flag. The flag’s pole formed following XRP’s over 400% pump between September and December 2024, before entering the current accumulation phase.

“It’s Go Time”

Notably, the market commentator believes that if XRP sustains its hold above this support, the possibility of further price expansion exists. If current momentum persists, he predicts that XRP will revisit the resistance of the vertical accumulation structure.

An accompanying chart shows that this lies around the July 2025 high of $3.67, representing a 76.4% increase from the market price of $2.08.

However, ChartNerd predicts that there could be more. He suggests “it’s go time” for XRP, underscoring a bullish breakout from the bull flag and a move to unprecedented prices.

Specifically, the analyst insists the structure has a likelihood of pushing XRP to double digits, with his chart highlighting an explosive move to $23.7. Interestingly, XRP has to increase by 1,039% to reach this new all-time high.

XRP to $23?

Meanwhile, ChartNerd is not the only analyst predicting that XRP would rally to $23. Market technician EGRAG Crypto shared a similar projection in an August 2025 analysis that the coin could also reach this target if it closes above $3.65.

He had earlier predicted the move in July 2025, highlighting $23 alongside $12 as the targets if XRP breaks above the “Valhalla gate.”

If XRP reaches $23.7, as NerdChart predicted, it would reach a market cap of $1.43 trillion at a circulating supply of 60.67 billion. Market observers share conflicting views on the possibility of this, with some branding it ambitious, especially in the short term.