Ripple’s XRP has been fairly quiet on the news front, but the price has held up better than many expected. Over the past week, the XRP price is up about 9%, even as the total crypto market cap has dropped more than 27% over the last month.
That tells the story clearly: the market is still shaky, but XRP isn’t collapsing the way smaller altcoins often do.
However, the bigger driver hasn’t changed. XRP’s direction still depends heavily on two things, what the Bitcoin price does next, and how the regulatory picture around Ripple develops.
What you'll learn 👉
Bitcoin Is Showing Bear Market Pressure Again
Bitcoin has now logged five red months in a row, something that has only happened once before.
That’s what trader Finish (@0xFinish) pointed out in a recent post, arguing that markets tend to flip when sentiment gets extreme. In the past, long losing streaks have often been followed by sharp rebounds, because bad news piles up only after price has already dropped.
Still, five straight red months is not a small signal. When that happens, the market isn’t chasing upside anymore, it’s just trying to hold together. And if Bitcoin sinks into a true crypto winter in 2026, the XRP price will probably get pulled lower with the rest.
$BTC has 5 red months in a row
— Finish 🏁 (@0xFinish) February 17, 2026
It only happened once before, and then a massive 3x pump
News always follows the price; once the price pumps, all FUD will disappear; that's how any market works
study the history, it always repeats itself pic.twitter.com/NSozDDNCi2
What XRP Looked Like During the Last Real Crypto Winter
The closest comparison is 2022. That year, Bitcoin printed four straight red quarters, and the entire market went into full risk-off panic. Money disappeared fast. Terra blew up, Celsius followed, and the whole market got crushed.
The XRP price moved with everything else at first. It dropped from the $0.70–$0.90 range down into $0.30–$0.40 during the worst part of the summer panic.
But XRP wasn’t just another chart that year. Even late in 2022, as Bitcoin kept sliding, XRP still caught a few sharp rallies because the SEC lawsuit gave it its own storyline. In September, it jumped toward $0.55 as traders bet on Ripple getting closer to a win.
The bigger point is that XRP gets hit in crypto winters too, but it doesn’t always move like the rest, because the legal outcome and real-world payment use cases keep it in a separate lane from Bitcoin at times.
Read Also: XMR Isn’t Dying – Here’s the Monero Price If Darknet Demand Keeps Rising
What a 2026 Crypto Winter Could Mean for XRP Price
XRP is sitting around $1.48 right now, and honestly, the next move mostly depends on what Bitcoin does from here.
If BTC keeps slipping and the market stays nervous, the XRP price probably drifts back toward $1.30, which is the first real area where buyers might try to hold the line.
If that doesn’t stick, things can get uglier fast. The next zone below is closer to $1.10, and after that, $1.00 becomes the big psychological level where demand usually starts showing up again.
On the other hand, if Bitcoin stabilizes and XRP keeps showing more strength than the rest of the market, the first hurdle is $1.61. Getting back above that would open the door for a move toward $1.85, and even $2.00 isn’t impossible if sentiment improves.
At the end of the day, the XRP price still moves with the market, but it also has its own story running in the background. That’s why it tends to hold up a little better than most coins when things get rough.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for daily crypto updates, market insights, and expert analysis.
