Ripple has had a historic year of 2025, with the conclusion of its protracted SEC lawsuit, billion-dollar acquisitions, and the introduction of several XRP ETFs. Through these developments and skyrocketing institutional attention, the XRP price has not risen compared to the time of its opening annually, leaving investors wondering how the token failed to reflect the success of the company.
Ripple’s Breakthrough Year
Ripple has had a good year in 2025. The greatest victory was made in March when the CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced the settlement of the lengthy legal tussle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It was a landmark victory that cleared a huge regulatory burden, even though Ripple had to pay a relatively small fee as opposed to the $2 billion initially requested by the SEC.
Afterwards, Ripple has taken major steps to grow its ecosystem. The acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road at a price of $1.25 billion (later rebranded as Ripple Prime) puts the company in a position to cater to institutional clients. Other acquisitions are the $1 billion acquisition of treasury software GTreasury, a $200 million acquisition of Rail, which enables the relay of money transferring in stablecoins and fiat in a fast, transparent, and secure way.
To further strengthen the adoption of XRP, Ripple also considered raising $1 billion in a SPAC to establish a digital asset treasury (DAT) company centred on its own token.
XRP ETFs and Institutional Demand.
The regulatory easing also opened the way to institutional products. In November, the US launched its first spot XRP ETF, Canary Capital XRPC, which recorded the highest trading volume on the day of release. Soon after three additional ETFs followed, and after weeks, all three attracted more than $660 million net inflows.
In spite of the aggressive ETF trading, the XRP derivatives market has weakened. The futures Open Interest has dropped to $3.75 billion from $8.36 billion in October.
XRP ETF flows | Source: SoSoValue
Why Is XRP Still Down?
In spite of these achievements, XRP is trading at a low of about $2.20, less than it was at the time of opening in 2025 ($2.32). The key factor seems to be the market sentiment. XRP surged before the US elections on the hopes of a regulatory-friendly government and also surged after the SEC dropped all the charges. After the news was made official, the buy the rumor, sell the news set in and prices declined.
XRP Open Interest | Source: CoinGlass
Retail interest levels have also not been high since the October 10 flash crash thus capping upside. The price dynamics of XRP indicate that fundamentals cannot support short term market behaviour, particularly in extremely emotional crypto markets.
Technical Outlook
XRP is technically resistant to major moving averages. The token is still beneath the 50-day EMA at $2.32, 100-day EMA at $2.47 and 200-day EMA at $2.50, limiting recovery efforts. The MACD value is slightly bullish with the RSI standing at 47 indicating a neutral market.
XRP/USD daily chart
Traders are waiting for a clear close above $2.32 that would open up to $2.40-2.47. These levels may take time to break, and until they do, support is at 1.86.
