Cryptocurrency

XRP Just Printed a Golden Cross, but Has It Already Failed?

XRP just flashed one of crypto's most watched bullish signals, but the price immediately dropped afterward. Whether this is a temporary stumble or a sign the signal has already broken down depends on a pattern buried in XRP's trading history.

By Sam Daodu
Published October 9, 2026, 4:00pm ET · 3 min read

The Crypto Desk desk. Editor: Sam Daodu.

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A close-up shot of a golden XRP cryptocurrency coin, featuring the Ripple logo and 'XRP' text, resting on a reflective dark surface. In the blurred background, a digital financial chart displays undulating lines in green, red, and purple, indicating market activity.
The XRP cryptocurrency coin stands before a backdrop of volatile market charts, reflecting recent price movements and investor questions about a potential bottom as of October 2026. © Maryshot / Shutterstock.com

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) completed a golden cross on its daily chart in the last week of September 2026, but the price has since fallen. After peaking at $1.51 on October 5, XRP is now trading at $1.40 as of October 9, down 9% over the past week and about 62% from its all-time high of $3.65.

Typically, traders view a golden cross as a positive signal. However, this recent cross came with a price drop. So, is this signal losing its strength, or is a slow start common for XRP after such crosses?

What the XRP Golden Cross Measures and Why It Arrived Late

Ripple XRP cryptocurrency coin representing digital innovation and future financial systems.

Eduardo Estellez / Shutterstock.com

A moving average represents the average closing price over a specific number of days, updated daily. The 50-day moving average reflects XRP’s recent price trends, while the 200-day moving average captures longer-term trends. A golden cross forms when the 50-day average rises above the 200-day average, while a death cross occurs when it falls back below.

Leading up to the golden cross, XRP’s two moving averages had been converging for weeks. By September 18, the gap between them was the narrowest it had been since August 2024. On September 29, the 50-day average crossed above the 200-day average with XRP trading near $1.50.

However, these averages are based on past prices, so a cross confirms buying that has already occurred. In XRP’s case, the September rally lifted the 50-day average, but the golden cross arrived just as that rally lost momentum.

Traders began selling in early October, even after the CFTC listed XRP as a digital commodity in proposed regulations reported on October 5. By October 9, forced liquidations of leveraged positions in the crypto market totaled around $1 billion, compounding selling pressure.

How XRP Performed After Its Past Golden Crosses

Ripple gold physical coin. XRP coin on black background

ViTaMiH / Shutterstock.com

Examining XRP’s past golden crosses provides insight into what could happen next. Here’s a summary of previous crosses:

  • 2025: The 50-day moving average crossed above the 200-day from late June to mid-July 2025, and XRP rallied by about 68%, climbing from around $2.19 on June 28 to its peak of $3.67 on July 18.
  • August 2024: XRP traded near $0.57 at the time of the cross and was roughly unchanged 30 days later, eventually reaching about $1.10 by mid-November 2024.
  • February 2021: The cross occurred with XRP at around $0.50. The price remained flat for a month before eventually peaking at $1.96 in April 2021.
  • April 2017: The 50-day moving average crossed above at about $0.04, and XRP peaked near $0.40 in May 2017, a staggering roughly 900% gain.

XRP has shown mixed results after previous golden crosses; some led to rapid gains, while others saw flat performance the following month.

Despite this, the overall records reveal a concerning trend. XRP has experienced 16 golden crosses, each followed by a death cross within 12 months. Of the ten crosses that lasted at least three months, five led to gains ranging from about 85% to over 1,000%, while the other five led to losses of up to 32%.

Is the XRP Golden Cross Already Failing?

As of now, the XRP golden cross has not definitively failed, but it is a weak signal with a limited timeline. A 9% price drop aligns with the flat starts seen after previous crosses in 2024 and 2021, so this decline doesn’t necessarily mean the signal has broken down.

However, XRP’s historical data suggests this cross offers about an equal chance of a price increase or decline, leaving holders somewhat uncertain.

For the golden cross to hold, XRP needs to stay above the 200-day moving average and ideally bounce back above its October 5 peak of $1.51. If it fails to do so and closes below the 200-day average, it risks turning this golden cross into just another statistic among those that led to losses in XRP’s history.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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Sam Daodu

Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.

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