Can $1.34 support hold as ETF demand hits 2026 high?

XRP price analysis: Can $1.34 support hold as ETF demand hits 2026 high?

$XRP briefly touched $1.70 just over a week ago, then handed back a chunk of those gains as sellers stepped in near the $1.50 mark. By Aug. 31, the token was changing hands around $1.36, down roughly 8% for the week — yet the coin managed to hold a technical floor near $1.34, keeping the broader August rally intact for now. This $XRP price analysis breaks down what’s driving the pullback, why ETF demand is telling a different story than the derivatives market, and which price levels traders are watching heading into September.

Key takeaways

• $XRP retreated from $1.48 to $1.36 but held above its 4-hour Supertrend support at $1.341.
• U.S. spot $XRP ETFs pulled in $110.49 million in the week ending Aug. 28 — their strongest inflow week of 2026, according to SoSoValue.
• CoinGlass liquidation data shows major concentrations near $1.35, $1.38, and between $1.44 and $1.50.
• A break below $1.34 could open the door to $1.28, while reclaiming $1.40 would strengthen the recovery case.
• Ripple’s monthly 1 billion $XRP escrow release lands Sept. 1, and the Senate holds a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15.

$XRP Price Analysis: Retreat Holds Key Support Despite Bearish Momentum

The short answer is that $XRP is cooling off after a hot month, not collapsing. The token’s slide from $1.48 to $1.36 followed a sharp climb off an August low near $0.98, a rally that added more than 30% in gains before $XRP topped out at $1.70 on Aug. 22. Sellers rejected that high almost immediately, and price carved out a string of lower highs beneath $1.55, $1.50, and $1.45 in the days that followed.

What matters now is where the pullback stopped. On the 4-hour chart, $XRP’s decline brought the token straight back to a support pocket built during the initial August breakout. The Supertrend indicator stayed bullish, with its active support line sitting at $1.341 — just beneath where $XRP was trading.

Critical support and resistance zones to watch

Not every signal points the same direction, though. The Awesome Oscillator printed a negative reading of -0.0364, and its histogram stayed below zero, a sign that short-term bearish momentum hasn’t fully cleared even as $XRP tries to stabilize above $1.35. That mix leaves the token at a genuine crossroads: holding the $1.34–$1.35 band preserves the higher trading range the August rally created, while a confirmed 4-hour close below it would chip away at what’s left of the bullish structure.

The stakes on either side of that line are fairly clear. A break below $1.34 could expose $1.28 as the next real test, while reclaiming $1.40 would meaningfully improve the recovery setup. That $1.28–$1.40 corridor is likely to define $XRP’s next move more than any single headline.

$XRP ETF Inflows Hit $110M as Derivatives Traders Pull Back

Institutional money kept flowing into $XRP even as the spot price fell — and that gap is the most striking part of this $XRP price analysis. U.S. spot $XRP ETFs experienced $110.49 million in positive net flows for the week that concluded on Aug. 28, per SoSoValue data, marking marking their best weekly performance throughout 2026. Following these inflows, the funds maintained approximately $1.44 billion in total net assets, with cumulative net inflows reaching roughly $1.66 billion.

That demand created a clear disconnect: institutional fund flows climbing while $XRP’s market price fell. Meanwhile, derivatives traders were doing the opposite of piling in. Aggregate $XRP futures open interest had climbed to about $2.73 billion in early August — representing the peak since October — as leveraged traders built positions for a bigger move. But price and open interest later declined together as $XRP pulled back from the $1.48–$1.50 resistance zone.

That kind of joint decline generally signals traders closing out existing positions rather than aggressively building new short bets, though open-interest data alone can’t pin down every trader’s direction with certainty. Either way, the leverage unwind trimmed some of the froth built up during the rally — it just didn’t generate enough fresh spot buying to push $XRP back above $1.40 before the month closed. Why it matters: a market where ETF demand rises while leverage unwinds tends to be less prone to a sharp liquidation cascade, even if the spot price stays choppy in the short run.

Liquidation Concentrations Define Potential Price Movements

CoinGlass data points to $1.35 and $1.38 as the nearest liquidity magnets, and those levels could shape $XRP’s next swing in either direction. The one-week CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows the largest nearby concentrations sitting right around those two prices — and $XRP tested both zones during the Aug. 31 decline, trading between them at the time the chart was captured.

If sellers retest the weekly low and $1.35 gives way, the next visible liquidity pockets sit near $1.33 and $1.30. But liquidity is stacked on both sides of the current price. Above the market, the first meaningful cluster appears near $1.40–$1.42, followed by a broader concentration between $1.44 and $1.45, with larger liquidation bands extending toward $1.48–$1.50.

Those overhead zones cut both ways. They could accelerate a rebound if $XRP pushes higher and forces leveraged short positions to close, or they could act as resistance if traders use the same levels to take profit. One more constructive detail: the daily Chaikin Money Flow reading stood at 0.09, staying above zero and pointing to net buying pressure over its 20-day window — a sign that capital hasn’t fully exited the market despite the weekly price drop.

Regulatory and Corporate Events Could Sway Sentiment Next

Two dates on the calendar could shift the narrative around $XRP well before any chart pattern resolves itself. The first is Ripple’s own monthly mechanism, which is scheduled to unlock 1 billion $XRP from escrow on Sept. 1. That sounds dramatic on paper, but Ripple has historically returned a large share of released tokens straight back into escrow, meaning the scheduled unlock doesn’t automatically translate into that full amount hitting the open market.

The second date is a policy one. The U.S. Senate is anticipated to conduct a procedural vote regarding the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15, testing whether supporters can lock in the 60 votes needed to advance the market-structure bill. This isn’t final passage — no signed law is scheduled for that date — but the outcome could still move sentiment toward U.S.-traded digital assets, since the legislation aims to clarify federal oversight of crypto markets more broadly.

For traders, the technical range still matters more day-to-day than either calendar event. Buyers need to defend $1.34–$1.35 and reclaim $1.40 to shift short-term momentum back in their favor. Lose the lower boundary, and the risk of a deeper slide toward $1.28 grows; clear $1.50, and the August recovery arguably comes back into control.

What recent price movement has $XRP experienced?

$XRP price pulled back from around $1.48 to approximately $1.36, holding support near $1.34 following a strong August rally.

How have U.S. spot $XRP ETFs performed recently?

U.S. spot $XRP ETFs recorded their strongest weekly inflow of 2026 with $110.49 million in net inflows during the week ending Aug. 28.

What liquidation price levels are important for $XRP traders to watch?

Major liquidation concentrations are near $1.35, $1.38, and between $1.44 and $1.50, which could influence price volatility and rebound potential.

What upcoming regulatory events could affect $XRP market sentiment?

The U.S. Senate has a scheduled procedural vote on the CLARITY Act on Sept. 15, which could influence market sentiment toward U.S.-traded digital assets including $XRP.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.

Source: cryptonews.net