XRP Established Strong Foundations in 2025, Will 2026 Trigger $5?

The XRP community entered 2025 with high expectations after years of legal uncertainty. That optimism was especially spurred by the resolution between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a matter that had been pending since 2020. The resolution was a pivotal moment in the future price actions of the XRP.

Some US-based spot XRP ETFs have been launched this year. These products are generally considered to be a gateway to institutional investing, while Ripple also announced new global partnerships aimed at expanding payment and settlement use cases.

Despite these achievements, XRP was unable to hit the much-awaited $5, as reported by a recent post from Cointelegraph. The cryptocurrency hit a new high of $3.66 before encountering selling pressure. At the end of October, token declined close to 50%, dropping to $1.58.

Source: X

Currently, XRP is being traded at around $1.88, with a rise of 2.67% in the last 24 hours. The market capitalization for the token is $113.93 billion, and the daily trade volume is $2.08 billion, and the market dominance of 3.80%.

Source: CoinGecko

On-Chain Data Reveals XRP Activity Drop

Though legal and ETF front action made headlines, it seems that on-chain action told another story altogether. There has been relatively little action on the token Ledger recently. Daily active addresses were always below 45,000, and only reached 38,500 on December 18.

Source: Glassnode

The downturn from the peak that was recorded in March 2025, when the number of active addresses surpassed 600,000. Moreover, the precipitous drop indicates decreased interaction on the network, which further contributes to concerns about levels of interest despite higher prices.

Since it attained its all-time highest point in 2018, it lost over 90% of its total value in a span of one year. This actually transpired without any legal proceedings from the regulator.

Already, token is down by more than 40% from its high above $3.66, it would be a tough test to reach $5 by 2026.

Source: Glassnode

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XRP Bullish Outlook Still Exists for 2026

However, some analysts are still quite optimistic about the possibility of XRP recording a large price movement in the year 2026. Chad Steingraber is one of the more positive forecasters, who predicts a price rise for XRP from the current $2 to $10 in the year to come.

With 2026 just around the corner, XRP finds itself at a crossroads. While the groundwork laid in 2025 has been important, it has yet to be reflected in its pricing action, and it remains to be seen whether it will experience another correction or breakout.

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