XRP Slides on U.S.–China Tariff Jitters – Traders Eye $2.00 Line

XRP is trading near $2.35 today after a sharp weekly drop tied to the market-wide shock. Live feeds from CoinMarketCap show intraday swings around the mid-$2 range, with quick fades on rallies.

Reuters links the broad market pullback to rising U.S.-China trade tension following tariff threats that pushed risk assets lower. DOJ and Treasury actions targeting a Cambodia-linked cyberfraud network added caution.

Analytic platforms report heavy transfers into exchanges and a reset in derivatives risk. Coinglass now shows XRP open interest near $3.88 billion, down roughly half from earlier peaks. Kaiko describes a crypto liquidity drought during the worst hour of the sell-off, with order books thin across majors.

XRP Price And Flows

Spot held a $2.30 to $2.60 corridor this week. Traders watch $2.00 for defense and $2.60 for a reclaim of near-term supply.

“Data from Binance, the largest exchange by trading volume, indicates a clear increase in whale flows of XRP to Binance during the first two weeks of October. This development reflects a shift in behavior among large wallets toward selling or hedging after a period of relative calm in September,” according to Arab Chain.

The latest trade headlines have hurt risk appetite. That macro shock explains why altcoins underperformed during peak stress while Bitcoin held relative ground before breaking the $110,000 threshold.

Bitcoin Price (Source: CoinMarketCap)

Derivatives And Liquidity

Funding reset and spreads widened during the flush, then narrowed into midweek. Limited resting depth during the peak hour, which amplified price impact across pairs. The wider market saw a rush to hedge after a record liquidation wave. Together, these inputs point to deleveraging rather than a collapse in protocol usage.

“Altcoins, a term for all cryptocurrencies other than market-leader bitcoin, bore the brunt of the move, with many falling 80% on some exchanges, analysts said,” wrote Reuters.

Key levels frame positioning. $2.00 marks the near risk line. $2.30 to $2.40 is the zone buyers defended earlier this month. $2.60 to $2.77 caps the local range. A firm close above that band would start to repair the structure. A clean break under $2.00 would open a path toward $1.90 to $2.00.

Today, Ripple is breaking into the $120T corporate treasury payments market with the $1B acquisition of GTreasury.

The past few years have reminded this industry why payments, first and foremost, is THE primary use case for crypto and blockchain. Payments are where Ripple first…

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) October 16, 2025

What To Watch Next

Two gauges anchor the next move. First, exchange balances for XRP. Rising balances can precede new sell programs while falling balances can limit supply. Second, open interest and funding. A gradual rebuild without a sharp funding jump is healthier than a snap back.

XRP is near $2.35 now, within the $2.30 to $2.40 defending range. Macro headlines remain the swing factor, while any pickup in stablecoin issuance and net creations into crypto ETFs would support that repair by adding steady demand during risk rebuilds. ETF creations and stablecoin supply could potentially indicate confirmation during rebounds.