XRP shot up 60% in days and then collapsed 37% in a single minute, and the borrowed money that caused both moves is still sitting in the market. What that means for the next time Bitcoin slips depends on which…
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The Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) price climbed above $80,000 on August 25, 2026, reaching more than $81,000 before pulling back. Bitcoin now trades around $78,000, while XRP (CRYPTO:XRP) has dropped to $1.39, well off the $1.70 price it reached during the rally that began on August 19.
Bitcoin is up roughly 21% over 30 days and XRP 28.5%, but both have gone quiet since the rally, with Bitcoin flat over seven days and XRP up 7.2%. The borrowed money that carried XRP higher is still in the market, which is the reason XRP has moved further than Bitcoin in both directions.
What August 22 Revealed About XRP’s Dependence on Bitcoin
The XRP price gained more than 60% between August 19 and August 22, 2026, and traders were buying on leverage, borrowing against their own money to take bigger positions than they could otherwise afford. Bitcoin climbed from $63,600 to $79,500 over the same stretch after the US Treasury expanded its bond buybacks, and that run had already wiped out $2.7 billion of short bets, five times what would close out on the way back down.
However, Bitcoin turned on August 22, and XRP fell roughly 37% in one minute on Bitstamp, from around $1.70 to $1.07, before recovering. Other exchanges never went near that. Across the broader market XRP fell from $1.70 to $1.51 that session. The 37% was specific to Bitstamp.
Moreover, roughly $500 million of borrowed bets on the price rising closed out across the whole market that morning, with XRP’s own share near $122 million and Bitcoin’s at $257.77 million. Total crypto liquidations reached about $1.35 billion over the following 24 hours, nearly three times the $500 million that closed out in those first minutes. Each forced closure sells XRP at whatever price it can get, which pushes the price down and triggers the next one.
That Bitstamp candle closed at $1.45, so the whole fall and most of the recovery happened inside one minute. Bitcoin fell 3.8% that morning, from around $79,500 to $76,500 in six minutes, and XRP lost about 11% market-wide across the session. XRP fell close to three times as far, because it had run up on borrowed money and Bitcoin had not.
Why Bitcoin Sets the XRP Price Right Now
The XRP price fell with the rest of the market in those six minutes on August 22. The altcoin market lost $53 billion, a 6.7% fall across everything outside Bitcoin and Ethereum, while total crypto market value dropped from $2.68 trillion to $2.55 trillion and 281,846 traders were sold out of their positions in a single session. Smaller coins fall harder because there are fewer buyers standing ready at any price, so the same forced selling has to reach further down to find one.
Meanwhile, XRP has tracked Bitcoin through the whole of August, rising with it from August 19 and falling with it on August 22. Bitcoin trades at $78,095 now, below the $80,000 it cleared on August 25, so the market is already back below the level it crashed from.
However, XRP still carries $3.66 billion in open interest after the crash, which is the total value of borrowed positions still open against it. That borrowed money never left after August 22, so a second Bitcoin drop would hit the same positions again.
Why $1.41 Has Turned Into Resistance
The XRP price trades around $1.39, just under the $1.41 it broke out through last week. XRP touched $1.70 during the rally and has given back every cent of that move, so the line it cleared on the way up now stands above the price.
Trading has thinned out with it. XRP turned over $1.10 billion in the past 24 hours against $12.7 billion during the rally, so the buyers who drove the move have stopped. Reclaiming $1.41 would restart the move, while $1.07 remains the level below, the level XRP touched during the August 22 crash.
XRP ETF Demand Has Continued Despite the Pullback
U.S. spot XRP ETFs took in $26.2 million on August 28, their second-best day of the month, even as the XRP price fell. Bitcoin ETFs lost $201.8 million the same day, ending a nine-day run of inflows, so money moved into XRP products on a day it moved out of Bitcoin’s. Cumulative net inflows into XRP funds now stand at about $1.66 billion.
Moreover, that buying started before the crash and carried through it. The funds took in $13.24 million on August 20 and $18.38 million on August 21, closing their best week since May at $39.78 million, then added $13.82 million on August 24 and $23.87 million on August 25.
What Happens Next for XRP
Two things now set the XRP price. Leveraged traders were sold out on August 22 and $3.66 billion of their exposure is still open, while ETF buyers have kept adding through every session since, including the day Bitcoin’s own funds lost $201.8 million.
So the ETF side is the steadier of the two, and it should keep XRP near $1.39 while the market stays quiet. However, ETF money arrives in tens of millions and borrowed positions close out in hundreds, which is why a single Bitcoin drop can undo a week of steady buying in six minutes.
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