ETF debut, price disappointment

The first U.S. spot XRP exchange traded fund, Canary Capital’s XRPC, launched on Nasdaq this week with record demand. Day one volume topped the 2025 leaderboard and briefly helped XRP reclaim levels above $2.30–$2.40. Yet just days later the token is sliding again, with intraday drops of 4–8% and spot prices gravitating toward the $2.20–$2.30 area as broader crypto sentiment sours.

Flows vs. price

On paper, the ETF numbers look impressive: strong opening volume, hundreds of millions of dollars in turnover and healthy net inflows into regulated XRP products. At the same time, futures liquidations, profit taking after the pre launch rally and renewed weakness in Bitcoin have weighed on altcoins. Analysts describe the move as a classic “sell the news” pattern in which traders use the ETF headline to offload risk rather than to add fresh exposure.

Macro headwinds

The timing is also awkward. Expectations for a December Federal Reserve rate cut have faded, U.S. yields have stabilised at higher levels and spot Bitcoin ETFs have logged sizeable outflows. Together these factors push investors to trim risk across the board, from high beta tech stocks to layer one tokens. Even a record breaking XRP ETF launch struggles to fight that macro tide.

What traders are watching

In the coming sessions, market participants will track whether XRPC volumes stabilise after the initial spike and whether upcoming XRP ETFs from other issuers can attract sticky institutional demand rather than short term speculation. For price action, the $2.20–$2.36 band is emerging as the key battlefield. A sustained break back above that zone would signal that ETF flows are finally overpowering the current risk off mood; failure would confirm that the historic launch was only the first chapter in a much longer repositioning.