XRP traders have every reason to feel frustrated. After a year packed with legal clarity, institutional headlines, and growing ETF interest, many expected price to be much higher by now. Instead, XRP spent most of 2025 grinding sideways, failing to deliver the kind of breakout seen in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana.
Vincent Van Code addressed that frustration directly, and his point is hard to dismiss. Price action disappointed, but the underlying Ripple and XRPL story did not fall apart.
What you'll learn 👉
Expectations Ran Ahead of Reality
The original Ripple and XRPL roadmap was meant to kick into full motion earlier. Legal delays pushed that timeline back. The appeal process and late rulings slowed execution, not progress.
That matters. Markets often price in timelines more than outcomes. When those timelines slip, price reacts even if the long-term direction stays intact.
Van Code openly admitted he expected higher XRP prices by the end of 2025. Many traders shared that view. That does not mean the thesis failed. It means expectations overshot what the market was ready to deliver in the short term.
One of the strongest points in Van Code’s take is also the simplest. What negative news about Ripple or XRP explains the price weakness?
There was no collapse in adoption. No reversal in legal clarity. No breakdown of the XRPL ecosystem. No abandonment by institutions already involved.
The Ripple/XRP/XRPL "plan" was supposed to start a year earlier.
— Vincent Van Code (@vincent_vancode) December 18, 2025
Thanks to an appeal and late ruling, here we are.
Now the plan is still on track, albeit starting later.
I must admit I will be first to admit I thought XRP price would be much higher by end of 2025, but hey, I…
When price falls without a clear fundamental trigger, the cause is usually external. Broader macro pressure, low liquidity, and market structure issues tend to fill that gap.
Read also: XRP Price Expected to Dip Lower This Week and One Global Event Explains Why
Market Structure Still Matters
XRP has traded for long stretches on thin volume. In that environment, price becomes easier to push around. Van Code pointed to aggressive short-term trading behavior, where large players profit from volatility rather than direction.
That kind of action hits hardest when retail interest fades and leverage dominates. It creates sharp moves without follow-through, which is exactly what XRP holders experienced most of this year.
This does not require a conspiracy to explain. Low-volume markets amplify behavior that would barely register in deeper pools.
XRP Price Is Lagging, Not the Narrative
XRP holders are not wrong to feel disappointed. Watching other large-cap assets break highs while XRP struggles near the same ranges tests patience.
At the same time, disappointment alone does not invalidate a long-term setup. Markets rarely reward conviction on clean schedules. They usually exhaust it first.
Van Code’s reminder is blunt but fair. Shortcuts, hype, and blind faith in influencers rarely end well. Research, patience, and understanding market mechanics matter more when price refuses to cooperate.
XRP’s price action in 2025 was poor by any honest measure. That does not automatically mean the Ripple narrative is broken.
Delays happened. Liquidity tightened. Market structure worked against slower-moving assets. None of that rewrote the core case overnight.
For now, XRP sits in an uncomfortable place between expectation and execution. Traders hate that phase. Markets thrive on it.
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