Another week, another XRP ETF. 21Shares rolled out its new XRP (XRP) exchange-traded fund on CBOE Thursday under the ticker TOXR, timing the launch with what turned out to be a rough day for altcoins across the board. Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) both took meaningful hits while XRP tried to hold the line.

The ETF Crowd Keeps Growing

The new fund is meant to capture rising demand for diversified crypto exposure in traditional portfolios. Federico Brokate, global head of business development at 21Shares, told The Block the ETF offers a straightforward path to XRP and the broader Ripple ecosystem without the hassle of managing wallets or dealing with exchanges directly.

For custody, the firm tapped Coinbase (COIN), Anchorage Digital Bank, and BitGo, spreading operational risk across multiple providers. That's become standard practice as crypto products inch toward mainstream acceptance.

21Shares isn't alone in this rush. Grayscale, Canary Capital, and REX Shares have all launched XRP funds in recent weeks, turning what was once a niche corner of the market into a competitive battleground. XRP's utility for low-cost, cross-border settlement has made it a natural target for investors hunting alternatives to Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the layer-1 narrative continues to resonate.

Altcoins Get Hammered

Thursday wasn't kind to crypto broadly. XRP slipped about 2.5%, which sounds mild until you consider that Solana dropped 4% and Ethereum fell 5%. Macro pressure and liquidity rotation drove the volatility, with traders pulling back from riskier positions as uncertainty crept in.

Despite the selling, ETF interest in XRP hasn't collapsed. Cumulative inflows since November reached $954.33 million, a significant sum given the current consolidation phase. Daily inflows have cooled compared to early November's enthusiasm, but persistent net buying has helped absorb sell-side pressure when the price wobbles.

Technical Picture Gets Interesting

XRP has been trading inside a large symmetrical triangle since July, and right now it's sitting near the lower support trendline. That makes the $1.94 zone absolutely critical. Hold above it, and the structure stays intact with room to bounce back toward the middle of the range. Break below it, and things get messier quickly.

The Bollinger Bands show price hugging the lower band, which often signals seller exhaustion during compression phases. If XRP defends $1.94, the next levels to watch are the mid-band at $2.1 and the descending trendline between $2.22 and $2.28. A close above that band opens the path to $2.35, where the Supertrend indicator flips bullish.

A breakout above $2.35 would shift the momentum entirely and set up targets near $2.9 to $3. That's where things get fun for bulls who've been waiting through months of consolidation. On the flip side, a clean break below $1.94 exposes the lower trendline around $1.85 to $1.88, and nobody holding XRP wants to see that scenario play out.

So the setup is straightforward: XRP is at a make-or-break level with new ETF products arriving just as the technical picture reaches a decision point. Whether institutional demand can offset broader market weakness is the question that will determine whether this thing bounces or breaks.