XRP Whales Load Up Ahead of Breakout—Will Price Hit $2.90 or Crash to $1.55?

• Ripple completed a $1.1B escrow transfer, and whales have accumulated over 900 million XRP.
• Binance’s exchange reserves saw a significant drop and active receiving addresses spiked, indicating long-term holding.
• XRP is approaching a key technical level, and analysts are seeing bullish breakout potential toward $2.90 and bearish risk to $1.55.

XRP whales have quietly accumulated over 900 million tokens in recent weeks, according to on-chain data. Increased holdings in addresses with 10 million to 100 million XRP are consistent with increasing investor confidence despite short-term volatility.

The accumulation came as Ripple released more than $1.1 billion in XRP on May 1 from its escrow. Fears over potential selling pressure have been eased after blockchain records show the funds stayed within Ripple wallets.

As per Ripple’s usual protocol, Ripple reallocated internally, releasing tokens from escrow on the first day of the month and re-locking a portion back. The company did not transfer assets to external exchanges, indicating no imminent desire to buy up the market.

Binance Reserve Shrinks as Active Wallets Spike

According to CryptoQuant, Binance’s XRP reserves greatly dropped in early 2025. The current reserve of XRP at the exchange is down from a recent high above 3.1 billion to a current 2.2 billion. The recent trend is pointing toward increased self-custody or whale-level withdrawals, which are often assumed to be a long-term holding signal.

XRP’s active receiving addresses have spiked at the same time. On the one hand, the spike in the number of daily receiving wallets from below 50k to spikes above 700k in daily receiving wallets indicates growing adoption or strategic distribution among holders.

Analysts Split on Short-Term Move but Agree on Breakout Potential

Although most recognize a critical inflection point, technical analysts remain divided on XRP’s next move. EGRAG CRYPTO emphasized XRP’s movement within a long-term “Macro Channel,” suggesting a path toward $17 and potentially as high as $55. Citing historical candlestick patterns, he labeled the current structure “Candle 5”—a phase that preceded a 1,700% price surge.

While technical analysts do not seem to agree on XRP’s next move, they agree that it has reached a critical inflection point. EGRAG CRYPTO also pointed out XRP’s variation within a long-term “Macro Channel” and that it still has a path to $17, if not higher, near $55. He cited historical candlestick patterns showing that Candle 5 is the structure currently made, a stage that triggered a 1,700 percent price rise.

Ande Wave also noted the development of an inverted head and shoulders pattern right near $2.186. A clean breakout above this resistance could see further gains if liquidity conditions remain supportive, he added. Echoing that analysis, Ali Martinez set a near-term upside target in the $2.70 to $2.90 range. If that move were to happen, it would propel XRP past a vital horizontal level of around $2.85.

Still, caution exists. A rejection at the upper boundary of a bull flag was spotted by BLOCK BULL, setting the stage for a slide to $1.55. If the support at $2.2562 fails, his analysis supports a possible 30% retracement. The risk is compounded by what he calls a ‘1,000% liquidation imbalance’, an indicator of high amounts of leverage in the system.