XRP price at crossroads as RLUSD growth battles weak technical signals

Ripple’s XRP is trading around $1.17 on Thursday after losing more than 3% of its value in the last 24 hours.

The cross-border coin is holding below the upper boundary of its falling channel after facing rejection at higher levels.

Despite a modest stabilization, XRP remains under pressure from broader technical resistance zones, and derivatives signals that point to cautious market sentiment.

Derivatives data signals bearish tilt for XRP

Market positioning data suggests a mildly bearish outlook for XRP.

CoinGlass metrics show that XRP’s OI-weighted funding rate has turned negative at -0.0090%, indicating that short positions are paying longs, a signal often associated with bearish sentiment.

Furthermore, the long-to-short ratio has also tilted negative (0.9369), reinforcing the view that traders remain cautious or positioned for further downside.

Together, these indicators suggest that upside momentum for XRP remains capped in the near term.

The futures Open Interest (OI) has also dropped to $2.7 billion (approx. £2 billion) after hitting $2.8 billion (approx. £2.1 billion) on Wednesday. 

While the derivatives data remains bearish, institutional inflow could push XRP’s price higher in the near term.

According to CoinGlass’s ETF page, spot XRP ETF inflow was muted on Wednesday.

However, the funds pulled in 4.28 million XRP and 2.38 million XRP on Tuesday and Monday. 

Ripple is expanding the adoption of its native RLUSD stablecoin.

Earlier this week, Ripple invested in Flutterwave’s $3.2 billion (approx. £2.4 billion) Series E round to integrate RLUSD stablecoin and XRP Ledger technology into cross-border payments across Africa.

As part of the partnership, Flutterwave will integrate RLUSD into its payments infrastructure, enabling businesses to settle certain international transactions using digital dollars.

In addition to this, the cross-chain infrastructure platform Squid integrated Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin.

The integration will enable users to swap into and out of RLUSD across more than 100 blockchains and over 20,000 digital assets through a single transaction.

These latest developments, alongside the continued inflow into XRP ETFs, could push XRP’s price higher in the near to medium term. 

XRP technical outlook remains cautious

The XRP/USD 4-hour chart remains bullish despite the recent price retracements. 

From a technical perspective, XRP continues to trade below its key moving averages, including the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs at approximately $1.28, $1.37, and $1.58.

However, momentum indicators show early stabilization, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) near 54 and MACD lines trending slightly higher. 

However, these signals still reflect a corrective move within a broader downtrend.

If the bullish trend resumes today, immediate resistance sits between $1.24 and $1.30, aligning with the key moving averages. 

A daily candle close above this zone could open room toward $1.37 and $1.58, while failure to reclaim it may expose XRP to renewed downside pressure.

However, if the bearish trend persists, XRP could extend its decline towards the first major support and the 4-hour TLQ level at $1.1258.

Failure to defend this level could see XRP dip lower and retest the swing low of $1.05 created on June 6.