- XRP traders bet on the price to go below $2.
- Traders are stacking bearish bets throughout the summer.
- XRP may fall even lower than the market average if demand doesn’t increase.
Traders are increasingly betting that XRP, the cryptocurrency linked to Ripple, will trade below $2 by the summer.
Data from Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange, shows that a large number of options contracts — financial instruments that give the right to buy or sell an asset at a specific price — are concentrated around lower price targets for April and May. That suggests a growing number of investors expect XRP to lose value in the short term.
XRP traded at $2.01 on Friday and has swung as much as 23% from a low of $1.65 to $2.16 in the last seven days.
The short-term caution stands in contrast to a broader uptick in crypto prices earlier this week, triggered in part by former US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause on new global tariffs.
But many XRP traders appear unconvinced that the rally is sustainable.
That uncertainty might stem from an inability to figure out the omens in the current macro tea leaves. Markets may have snapped back, but caution appears to be the dominant mood among XRP options traders.
“The Treasury market’s recent weakness is flashing a recessionary signal, and Trump’s 90-day tariff pause isn’t as effective as markets assume, given that tariffs on China remain high and are even rising,” Mike Marshall, head of research at Amberdata, a crypto analytics platform, told DL News.
“Despite the short-term calm, the macro backdrop remains bearish for crypto over the long term,” Marshall said.
Some analysts expect XRP could fall further. Ali Martinez, a crypto strategist, sees the price potentially dropping to $1.30, in continuation of a downside slide Trump’s inauguration.
Data from blockchain analytics firm Glassnode also points to a possible decline for XRP’s price, citing a slowdown in trading activity and weaker inflows of capital into the XRP market.
However, not all market observers are pessimistic about the prospects.
A collapsing bond market and a 90-day tariff pause all work together to paint a very murky picture,” said Mike Cahill, CEO of Douro Labs, a Pyth Network contributor. “But in the long run, it sets the stage for a major capital rotation ― out of fragile debt markets into digital assets with real utility.”
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.
