Ripple

XRP resilience vs. Bitcoin’s macro‑driven weakness: Impact on investor sentiment

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XRP flows into Binance surged sharply, yet price resilience and falling leverage point toward quiet accumulation.

Posted: March 2, 2026 Avatar

By: Muriuki Lazaro Journalist Edited By: Saman Waris XRP resilience vs. Bitcoin’s macro‑driven weakness: Impact on investor sentiment

Muriuki Lazaro Journalist Edited By: Saman Waris Posted: March 2, 2026 Share this article

Ripple [XRP] began February near $1.60 as exchange inflows to Binance remained relatively small. Most daily transfers stayed below $20 million, reflecting calm market positioning.

Meanwhile, the price gradually declined toward $1.55 as sellers slowly gained control.

Soon after, volatility intensified around the 5th of February when XRP briefly plunged near $1.20 before rebounding sharply.

However, inflows during this drop remained close to $10 million, suggesting the move occurred without large exchange deposits.

As the month progressed, XRP stabilized between $1.35 and $1.50, while inflows mostly stayed under $30 million.

This steady structure implied that most holders avoided aggressive distribution despite geopolitical uncertainty building in global markets.

Source: Darkfost/X

Momentum shifted sharply after the 23rd of February.

Binance inflows surged beyond $115 million and then accelerated toward $160 million around the 25th of February. At the same time, price only fluctuated near $1.35–$1.45, showing limited downside expansion.

Then, another cluster of deposits appeared between the 26th and the 28th of February, several exceeding $150 million. Altogether, these spikes contributed to roughly $652 million entering Binance.

This concentration suggests large entities repositioned liquidity rather than widespread retail capitulation triggered by geopolitical tensions.

Whales move first as XRP faces macro-driven market stress

Whale transfers to Binance remained relatively limited through most of XRP’s early cycles, including the 2018 rally toward roughly $3.80.

However, activity expanded noticeably after 2020 as XRP traded between $0.20 and $1.00, with occasional spikes above 10,000 transactions aligning with volatility phases.

Source: CryptoQuant

More recently, whale flows intensified. Since early 2025, several spikes exceeded 40,000–60,000 whale-to-exchange transactions, marking the highest activity in the dataset.

At the same time, XRP retraced from above $2.50 toward roughly $1.30–$1.40, suggesting deposits occurred during price weakness.

The total whale flow series shows similar bursts, with multiple spikes above 20,000 units. These movements likely reflect whales positioning liquidity rather than retail panic.

Rising geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran may have accelerated this defensive repositioning, increasing exchange liquidity as uncertainty spread across risk markets.

XRP resilience emerges as Futures markets reset

XRP derivatives activity shows traders unwinding leverage rather than building aggressive shorts. Futures Open Interest fell to $2.17 billion as the price stabilized near $1.36.

Meanwhile, Funding slipped slightly negative to –0.0011% at the time of writing, signaling a mild bearish bias. However, the long-to-short ratio holds near 49.6%, indicating positioning remains broadly balanced.

Source: CoinGlass

Liquidations also stayed limited around $5.38 million, reinforcing the view that markets are deleveraging without cascading sell pressure.

Bitcoin [BTC] reflects a similar pattern. Its Open Interest declined 2.48% to roughly $43.19 billion, while funding remained mixed.

Meanwhile, XRP/BTC climbed to 0.00002057 as Bitcoin dominance held near 58.1%. Together, these signals suggest XRP flows reflect strategic repositioning rather than systemic crypto market stress.

Final Summary

XRP exchange inflows totaling roughly $652 million and repeated whale transfers above 40,000 transactions suggest strategic liquidity repositioning.
Price stability near $1.35 despite falling Futures Open Interest and negative funding indicates controlled deleveraging as spot buyers absorb selling pressure.

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Muriuki Lazaro

Muriuki Lazaro is a on-chain data analyst with a B.Sc. in Data Science. Muriuki specializes in dissecting complex on-chain data into clear and accurate insights for readers in the crypto ecosystem, with a particular focus on Bitcoin. More Articles