In recent developments, xRP’s recent price action in 2025 was more of a dynamic movement than a simple sideways drift. After rallying strongly earlier in 2025 and pushing to new all-time highs, the cryptocurrency has spent much of the recent months digesting those gains through pullbacks and consolidations. That structure was referenced in a chart shared on the social media platform X by Steph, which proposed that XRP’s current market behavior is beginning to resemble the long compression phase that preceded its breakout in 2017. XRP Completes Nearly 400 Days Of Sideways Accumulation According to Steph’s analysis, XRP has just completed roughly 393 days of sideways accumulation, a duration that almost perfectly matches the 395-day consolidation phase it went through between 2016 and 2017. During that earlier cycle, XRP spent months moving within a relative range, producing a choppy price action. This kind of extended consolidation reflects a balance between buyers and sellers, where neither side is strong enough to force a decisive trend. In 2017, that balance led to a transition into another technical formation of a descending channel before breaking out. The current setup in 2024-2025, at least structurally, shows XRP once again spending an unusually long time building a base in a range. A more detailed look at the chart shows another important similarity with the transition into another descending channel. Back in the 2016-2017 cycle, XRP transitioned from sideways movement into a descending channel that gradually pushed the price lower over several months. That downward-sloping structure ultimately resolved with a sharp breakout to the upside. The 2024-2025 chart shows XRP moving through a comparable descending channel, with price compressing toward the lower boundary before showing early signs of a breakout while attention is still low. XRP Price Comparison. Source: @Steph_iscrypto on X What To Expect For XRP The 2016-2017 chart segment above shows XRP trading for roughly 395 days in a broad sideways range between about $0.005 and $0.01. Once XRP broke out of the descending channel in early 2017, price moved up very fast, first reclaiming $0.01, then surging past $0.03 and $0.05 within a few days. The expansion did not stop there, as XRP eventually rallied into the $0.40 region later that year, cementing XRP’s first 5,000% move in its history. The 2024-2025 chart shows XRP peaking near the $3.40 zone before entering a sideways consolidation phase throughout 2025. Price action is now in the descending channel, which is gradually compressing around the $1.70-$1.90 area. That channel now looks similar to the location where XRP was in 2017 before its breakout, adjusted for scale. A comparable 5,000% move from the current zone of price action would mathematically project the XRP price to about $100. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
Looking closer, market participants highlight key drivers such as liquidity flows, macro risk appetite, regulatory headlines, and on-chain activity. Short-term swings often reflect liquidation cascades and funding imbalances, while spot volumes and exchange inflows set the broader tone.
Analysis: The medium-term picture hinges on whether buyers can sustain momentum without excessive leverage. If flows continue favoring majors like BTC and ETH, altcoins could experience a staggered rotation instead of a broad-based rally. Meanwhile, policy clarity in key jurisdictions remains a decisive catalyst; clearer rules typically compress risk premia and attract institutional allocations. Beyond price action, on-chain metrics such as active addresses, fees, and stablecoin velocity help validate trend strength.
Outlook: Over the next few weeks, observers will watch price acceptance above recent resistance, derivatives positioning, and ETF-related flows. A constructive setup would feature rising spot demand, contained leverage, and improving breadth across sectors such as DeFi, infrastructure, and Layer-2 ecosystems.
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