When Four Times Isn't the Charm

XRP (XRP) keeps banging its head against the same ceiling. Since peaking at $3.60 back in July, the cryptocurrency has tried to break above a descending trendline four separate times—in August, September, October, and most recently in early January. Each attempt hit the same wall of selling pressure at precisely the same technical level.

Right now, XRP is trading at $2.13, squeezed between two critical price zones. Support is holding at $1.95, which has survived three separate tests without cracking. Above, resistance is clustering between $2.4 and $2.6, with the 200-day moving average at $2.32 adding another obstacle.

The setup is straightforward: Break cleanly above $2.6, and XRP has a clear shot at $3 and potentially higher. But if that $1.95 support finally gives way, the next likely landing spot is $1.6.

Institutional Money Arrives While Speculators Exit

Here's where things get interesting. XRP spot ETFs have pulled in $1.26 billion in cumulative inflows since they launched, including $10.63 million on January 14 alone. That's serious institutional interest.

But flip over to the derivatives market, and you'll see a completely different picture. XRP futures volume dropped 30% to $5.58 billion, and open interest fell 4% to $4 billion, according to Coinglass. Translation: traders are closing positions and stepping back after the recent volatility. So institutions are buying in while speculators are backing out.

The $150 Million Stablecoin Play

Ripple announced Thursday it's pumping $150 million into LMAX Group to integrate its RLUSD stablecoin into LMAX's institutional trading platform. This isn't some small-time operation—LMAX handled $8.2 trillion in institutional trading volume last year.

The deal means major banks, brokers, and asset managers can now use RLUSD as collateral across spot crypto, futures, and contracts for difference. That's a big deal for capital efficiency.

RLUSD launched roughly a year ago and has grown to a $1.4 billion market cap, according to RWA.xyz. Ripple is positioning it specifically as a regulated stablecoin for institutional players—not retail traders, but the folks moving serious money.

David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, described it as a strategic partnership designed to create a unified marketplace bridging traditional finance and crypto.

For institutions, this solves a real headache. Instead of juggling separate margin accounts for different assets, they can use RLUSD across LMAX's entire platform. It's the kind of infrastructure play that doesn't make headlines but actually matters for getting institutional capital into crypto at scale.

Whether that's enough to push XRP past its stubborn resistance level and back toward $3 is the question everyone's watching.