What Happens If XRP’s $1 Support Breaks?

Photo of Sam Daodu
By Sam Daodu Published

Quick Read

  • XRP's $1 support level is a psychological round number where buy orders, sell orders, and stop-losses pile up, and when a level that crowded gives way, the price tends to fall through it quickly.

  • XRP is only just holding above $1, and the buying keeping it there is thin. ETF money is still coming in but in small amounts, and the big holders have been buying the whole way down, which is enough to slow XRP's fall, but not enough to turn it around.

  • A break below $1 would trigger the stop-losses right under it, open a quick gap lower, and turn the $1 level from support into resistance. It’s the same sequence XRP already ran after losing the $1.30-$1.40 level.

  • XRP briefly dipping below $1 isn't automatically a breakdown. The volume behind the move is what would decide if it's actually lost the support or it's a false break that gets reclaimed as a bear trap.

  • The Motley Fool told its subscribers to buy Amazon in 2002, Netflix in 2004, and Nvidia in 2005. Stock Advisor still publishes two new stock picks every month — and over 23 years, has more than quadrupled the S&P 500. Click here to receive the next recommendation.

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
What Happens If XRP’s $1 Support Breaks?

© StoryTime Studio / Shutterstock.com

For weeks now, every time the XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) price drifts toward $1, buyers turn up and defend it, and every time it bounces, the selling drags it back down again. XRP now trades around $1.04—only about four cents above that support line—after sliding more than 22% in the past month.

A lot of holders keep asking what happens when the $1 support finally gives way. Would a drop below $1 mean the XRP price is breaking down, or could it be a trap that catches everyone betting on the fall?

Why $1 Is the Line Everyone’s Watching for XRP

A silver XRP cryptocurrency coin stands upright on a stack of several gold coins. The XRP coin features its distinct logo over a grid-like globe design. The background is a dark, blurred financial chart with prominent wavy lines of red and green, suggesting market movements.

danielberndt / Shutterstock.com

Round numbers are psychological levels, and $1 is the one traders are fixated on for XRP. People put more focus on round numbers—it’s where they tend to buy, sell, or cut their losses. And once enough traders are leaning on the same price, it starts to behave like support, which is what $1 is to XRP right now.

When the XRP price drifts close to $1, sell or buy orders pile up around it. Buyers leave bids hoping for a bounce, sellers stack offers just above it, and holders put their stop-losses—the automatic sell orders that cap a loss—just below. All those orders make the $1 support the most crucial line for XRP at the moment.

However, those stacked orders cut the other way when the $1 line finally breaks. The stop-losses just below the support will trigger once the price drops below it, and because everyone is leaning on the same line, there’s very little underneath to slow the fall. This means that once the support level breaks, the XRP price might slide deeper than many expect.

What’s Holding XRP Above $1 Right Now

Hands of male trader holding Ripple XRP cryptocurrency token, investing in stock market to exchange it while trading using pc from home. Selective focus

BAZA Production / Shutterstock.com

XRP has had steady buying behind it, and that’s the main reason the $1 line is still holding. Spot XRP ETFs are still pulling in money, with around $15.34 million in net inflows on June 29, reflecting that institutions haven’t walked away even as the price falls. And XRP’s biggest holders are adding rather than selling, with the number of large wallets recently climbing to a record high.

However, that buying is smaller than it looks. Around $15 million in a day might sound like a lot, but it’s a small slice of the roughly $1.67 billion in XRP that changes hands daily. It’s a steady trickle keeping the price afloat, not enough to absorb a heavy wave of selling, and it hasn’t been able to push XRP back up—which is why the $1 support is barely holding for now.

Where XRP Could Go If $1 Breaks

A close-up shot of a golden Ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency coin, resting on its edge. The coin's face displays a world map design and the 'ripple' logo with text. The background is dark, illuminated by glowing red lines forming a downward trend chart and large red arrows pointing downwards, indicating a market decline.

Tamisclao / Shutterstock.com

Once the $1 support breaks, it would become the new ceiling. Everyone who bought just above $1, expecting the level to hold, would suddenly be underwater, and many of them would sell the first time the price climbed back toward their entry, just to get out even. That selling would cap every bounce, so each attempt to reclaim the $1 line again would run into a wave of people trying to escape, and the price would keep getting pushed back down.

XRP went through this at a higher level. A few weeks ago, the $1.40 level was holding the XRP price up the same way $1 is now. When that support broke, XRP dropped about 3.5% in the first move, from roughly $1.44 to $1.39, and $1.40 turned into resistance. Every push to get back above the level failed, and the price kept drifting lowee, from $1.35 to $1.30, until it fell below $1.20 to where it is today.

If the $1 line goes the same way, the next round numbers underneath are $0.90 and then $0.80, and those would become the levels traders watch next. A break wouldn’t guarantee XRP falls that far, since some breaks turn out to be just a small step down. But if it plays out like $1.40 did, each level XRP loses would become the next ceiling above it, and the price would keep grinding toward the one below.

Would a Drop Below $1 Automatically Be a Crash?

Golden Ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency coin with candle stick graph chart, laptop keyboard, and digital background.

Alexandru Nika / Shutterstock.com

A brief dip below $1 wouldn’t be the same as a breakdown, but every time XRP gets close to the line, people forget that. Support levels get pierced all the time and then reclaimed, trapping everyone who sold the break. Traders call it a false breakout, and it happens often enough that a single wick below $1—a quick stab that closes back above—would prove almost nothing on its own.

Whether a break is genuine or false depends on the selling volume when the support gives way. A break on heavy volume, where a lot of people sell at once, tends to keep going. One on light, fading volume usually fizzles out and gets reclaimed. 

If the ETF buyers and whales defending $1 absorb the first push below it and pull the price back above, the break would turn into a bear trap that catches everyone who bet on the fall. So whether the $1 support actually breaks depends less on the line giving way and more on how hard the selling hits when it does.

Will XRP Break Below $1?

A test of the $1 support looks more likely than not. The XRP price is already pressed against the line, the broader trend points down, and the demand holding it up is thin. But a test and a breakdown aren’t the same thing, and the difference might not be entirely dependent on XRP. 

At a level this widely watched, the rest of the crypto market has just as much say in where the XRP price goes. If Bitcoin keeps sliding, traders would dump crypto across the board, and that could trigger XRP losing the $1 support. But if Bitcoin holds steady, the buyers defending the line stand a much better chance.

The bottomline is that the whole thing rests on the broader market holding up, and the $1 line isn’t really the thing to watch—Bitcoin is. If market sentiment turns and Bitcoin climbs back above $60K and hold it, then XRP should have enough support to defend $1 and maybe push higher.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Photo of Sam Daodu
About the Author Sam Daodu →

Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

GLW Vol: 24,307,400
KLA
KLAC Vol: 14,628,648
WDC Vol: 11,268,872
AMAT Vol: 14,164,881
AXON Vol: 1,847,989

Top Losing Stocks

HON Vol: 7,773,157
CTRA Vol: 73,319,495
SMCI Vol: 91,227,161
CPRT Vol: 18,101,097
ULTA Vol: 895,681