A major report from an on-chain analytics firm called Glassnode was released on March 8. It shows that about 36.8 billion XRP coins are currently held at a loss. This amount is roughly 60% of every XRP in circulation. The total unrealized loss, measured in U.S. dollars, is about $50.8 billion. Unrealized loss means prices today are lower than the prices people paid for their XRP, and those people haven’t sold yet. In short, many XRP owners are sitting on paper losses right now.
Right now, XRP trades around $1.34 per coin. That price is more than 63% lower than XRP’s all-time high, which was $3.65 reached in July 2025. This shows the token’s price has dropped a lot over recent months. The big drop has left a lot of investors facing losses on paper. If they decide to sell when the price moves closer to their purchase price, selling pressure could grow and push prices down or up depending on the move.
What is unrealized profit and loss? This is a way to measure how much value has been lost or gained since someone bought a coin, but without selling it. It compares the current market price with the price at which each coin last moved on the blockchain. The method weights each coin by its purchase cost rather than just counting how many coins are above or below the current price. In simple terms, imagine you bought a bunch of XRP at different prices. Unrealized loss would tell you, if you sold all of them today, how much money you would lose in total based on your own buying prices. Analysts use this number to gauge how investors feel about the market at different times.
Looking at longer time frames, XRP has struggled in many ways. Over the past week, the price is down about 0.5%. Over the last month, it has fallen about 7.1%. Over the past year, the price is down more than 42%. This persistent weakness has left many holders with “paper losses” worth about $50.8 billion. Paper losses are losses that exist on paper because the coins haven’t been sold yet. If prices recover toward the cost basis of some investors, those losses could turn into smaller losses or even gains for some traders.
Earlier attempts to bounce above $1.45 ran into resistance. The price failed to hold that level during a week when U.S. XRP exchange traded funds (ETFs) saw net withdrawals. On March 6, XRP ETFs saw $16.62 million leave the products in a single day. That was the largest daily withdrawal since late January. ETFs are investment funds that trade on stock-like exchanges and can track XRP or other assets. Large withdrawals can signal investor caution or retreat from these products for now.
On the other side of the market, activity in derivatives has risen. Derivatives are financial contracts whose value comes from an underlying asset like XRP. They allow traders to bet on price moves or hedge risk without owning the asset itself. According to CoinGlass data, XRP futures volume on BitMEX jumped by more than 7,000% to about $49 million. This big rise suggests that some traders may be using more leverage—borrowing money to amplify bets—as they wait for clearer price direction. Delicate balance here: more leverage can mean bigger profits, but also bigger losses if the market moves against you.
Binance—the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume—reported about $733 million in XRP futures volume in the last 24 hours. Other platforms such as Bybit and OKX also showed large trading activity. At the same time, some indicators point to slower activity in spot trading—the market for buying and selling the actual asset rather than a derivative. A data account called Arab Chain showed Binance’s 30-day trading volume Z-Score near −1.16. A negative Z-Score means daily trading volume is below its recent average, hinting a slower pace in immediate trading activity.
People sharing opinions on X (formerly Twitter) provide mixed views about what comes next for XRP. A well-known XRP supporter, EGRAG Crypto, wrote that XRP’s cycles often include price declines and long periods of little price change before a new expansion phase starts. In the same discussion, the analyst suggested this could be a period of “time-based capitulation.” That term means sentiment resets during long stretches of sideways trading—the market waits for new information or a new trend to begin.
Other analysts are cautious. Some predict XRP could fall below $1 again. One forecast points to a possible support area near $0.90 if the downward price channel that has been visible since mid-2025 continues. Support areas are price levels where the market could find more buyers and stop falling so quickly.
The discussion about XRP is ongoing. You can read more about these observations on CryptoPotato, the site that published the original report about Ripple holders. The headline there was: Ripple Holders Alert: 60% of XRP Circulating Supply Currently Underwater, and it highlights how much of the XRP supply is currently at a loss.
What this means for everyday investors is that the market for XRP is not simple right now. There are many coins that cost more than their current price. Some investors might choose to wait for prices to recover to their own purchase prices, while others may decide to sell now to avoid further losses. Traders in the derivatives market are also active, which can amplify both gains and losses depending on how prices move. For the moment, the market remains uncertain, and different experts have different ideas about where XRP will go next.
In short, a large share of XRP holders are underwater. The combination of high unrealized losses, a lower price, and a mixed view among market participants helps explain why the market has been quiet or choppy at times. As always with cryptocurrencies, it is important for investors to do their own research and think about risk before making decisions.
Definitions
The pieces above reference several technical terms. Here are simple explanations of a few key terms with links to more detailed information:
- XRP Ledger – Also called the Ripple Protocol. It is a cryptocurrency platform started in 2012 by Ripple Labs. It uses the native currency XRP and uses a fast way to agree on transactions among many computers that check and confirm trades.
- Ripple Labs – An American technology company that creates blockchain products and uses XRP Ledger and other networks.
- Binance – The largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. An exchange is a place where people buy and sell digital money. Binance operates globally.
- BitMEX – A cryptocurrency exchange that offers derivative trading, including futures and other contracts. It is owned by HDR Global Trading Limited and registered in the Seychelles.
- Futures contract – A legal agreement to buy or sell something at a set price on a future date. It is a type of derivative, meaning its value comes from something else (like XRP) rather than being the asset itself.
Leave a Reply