XRP jumps past $1.15 as whale buying and ETF demand converge

XRP traded at $1.15 early Thursday, up 14.5% over 24 hours. The token held near $1.10 through the early morning before a rapid climb between 08:05 and 08:55 UTC, according to CoinGecko price data, and CryptoTimes reported the move outpaced bitcoin's gain on the same day by about 3 percentage points.

Whale activity climbed 280% in the 24 hours before the price moved: more than 38 transfers of $1 million or more went through while XRP still sat near $1. Large holders positioned before retail traders noticed the shift.

Futures markets carried the rally on leverage. Daily futures volume reached roughly $2.93 billion against $505.8 million in spot volume, a turnover near six times spot, per CoinGlass data cited by CryptoTimes. Open interest sat near $2.80 billion, and traders on the wrong side of the move lost about $9.1 million to liquidations over 24 hours.

Seven US XRP exchange-traded funds now hold 994.72 million XRP combined, close to 1% of the token's 100 billion maximum supply, according to XRP Insights. Trading volume across the funds reached $26.80 million at Wednesday's close: $18.55 million for Bitwise, $4.80 million for Franklin Templeton, $2.59 million for Canary Capital.

• XRP price: $1.15, up 14.5% in 24 hours
• Whale transfers of $1M or more: 38+, up 280% in 24 hours
• Futures volume: about $2.93B against $505.8M in spot
• US XRP ETF holdings: 994.72M XRP across 7 funds
• Key resistance cleared this week: $1.06

“XRP just closed at its lowest since November 2024, and the on-chain read is more interesting than the price. Activity picked up anyway.”

— Santiment, X, Aug. 13, 2026

Santiment flagged that divergence a week before the rally. Daily active XRP addresses averaged 35,700 in August, up 35% from July's 26,400, while new-address creation held flat near 2,260 per day. Existing holders drove the increase rather than new entrants. Active addresses hit 49,929 on August 13 alone, the highest reading in more than two months, on a day XRP closed near $1.00, about 69% below its January 2025 peak of $3.30.

Ripple added two pieces of corporate news the same week. Ripple Prime raised $275 million through an upsized private placement of senior unsecured notes rated BBB by KBRA, with proceeds earmarked for its US clearing, financing and prime-brokerage business. Jeonbuk Bank in South Korea became the country's first regional bank to deploy Ripple Payments for cross-border remittances. Neither announcement moved the price on its own; XRP stayed near $1 in the days that followed. The news built the setup rather than triggered the spike, arriving days after Ripple's CEO said crypto had outgrown its fringe reputation.

Two broader developments widened the backdrop. The SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, unveiled Monday, carries particular weight for Ripple given the company's multi-year court fight with the agency, even though the rule applies to crypto issuers broadly rather than XRP alone. The Treasury's move to double its bond buyback program, announced the same week, pushed bitcoin more than 5% above $68,000 and set a risk-on tone that lifted XRP alongside the rest of the market.

$1.06 served as a resistance zone tracked by traders through most of August. XRP cleared it this week. A hold above $1.10 extends the breakout. A drop back under $1.06 would put the $1 level back in focus.

None of this should be read as personalized investment advice.