Ripple's XRP sees further decline as short-term holders take profits, whales buy the dip

• XRP short-term holders dominated the selling activity during the recent market crash.
• XRP whales have been accumulating more tokens during the crash, adding over $1 billion worth of tokens.
• XRP could bounce off the lower boundary of a descending channel if it fails to hold the $1.96 support level.

Ripple's XRP is down 4% on Thursday as it struggles near the support at $2.12. Whales have been accumulating the recent selling pressure from short-term holders following the recent crypto market crash.

XRP whales soak up selling pressure from short-term holders

Short-term holders have spearheaded the recent selling activity in XRP following the recent market crash.

The Spent Coins Age Band, which shows the distribution of coins spent per day by the age of the tokens, provides clarity into the behavior of XRP holders. The data shows coins in the 1D to 7D and 90D to 180D cohorts dominated the selling activity.

XRP Spent Coins Age Band. Source: Santiment

Analyzing this trend with the Network Realized Profit/Loss metric shows that investors in the 1D to 7D cohort are aiming to cut losses by selling quickly, while those in the 90D to 180D group are quickly realizing profits before prices fall to their cost basis.

XRP Network Realized Profit/Loss. Source: Santiment

However, XRP whales have been buying the dip heavily since the market crashed on Monday. During the period, whales holding between 1M-10M XRP and 10M-100M XRP increased their collective holdings by 440M XRP, worth nearly $1 billion.

XRP Supply Distribution. Source: Santiment

Meanwhile, Ripple announced on Wednesday that it will expand its crypto custody services in South Korea through a partnership with institutional digital asset custody firm BDACS Korea. The platform will use Ripple Custody to help institutions secure their XRP and RLUSD stablecoin holdings.

The partnership aims to boost Ripple's foothold in South Korea — one of the largest XRP markets by geography — by supporting XRP Ledger developers, strengthening RLUSD's adoption and cooperating with Busan, the country's blockchain regulation-free zone.

XRP could bounce off a descending channel's support

XRP sustained $6.37 million in futures liquidations in the past 24 hours, per Coinglass data. The total amount of long and short liquidations accounted for $3.95 million and $2.42 million, respectively.

Since seeing a rejection near the 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), XRP has struggled to find support near the $2.24 to $2.12 zone. This comes amid its long-term movement within a descending channel that extends from mid-January.

XRP/USDT 4-hour chart

If bearish pressure persists and XRP fails to hold the $1.96 critical level, it could find support near the lower boundary of the descending channel.

On the upside, XRP needs to sustain an extended move above the descending channel's upper boundary to flip the bearish trend.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Awesome Oscillator (AO) are below their neutral levels, indicating dominant bearish pressure.