XRP Tops $1.60 for First Time Since February on 1,917 Whale Trades

XRP Back Above $1.60 on Whale Flows

XRP price action climbed above $1.60 on Sept. 22, 2026, reaching a level last touched on Feb. 4 and extending a rally that has made the token one of the strongest large-cap performers of the week. The breakout did not occur in a quiet tape: data from the on-chain analytics platform Santiment recorded 1,917 whale transactions valued at $100,000 or more during the move, the heaviest stretch of high-value activity in roughly a month. The same dataset shows 3,647 newly created wallets on the XRP Ledger, indicating fresh addresses joined the network as price pushed higher. Santiment frames the whale count as evidence that large holders repositioned into the rally rather than as a pure buy-only signal — the metric captures sales and wallet-to-wallet transfers as well as accumulation, a nuance that matters when whale activity gets reduced to simple accumulation narratives. The advance itself had been building for days: XRP started its climb from $1.25 and gained 27.6% to touch $1.58 before the $1.60 threshold gave way. Our reading of the flow is that the move past $1.60 came with genuine participation breadth, not a thin, low-liquidity spike — a distinction that separates durable breakouts from wicks.

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Binance Inflows Absorbed by Buyers

Exchange-flow data suggests the supply that moved during the rally was largely absorbed. On-chain analytics covering the week that ended Sept. 20 show Binance receiving an average of 21.7 million XRP in daily deposits — a figure 663% above the quarterly base level. Normally, deposits of that size raise the specter of distribution, yet Binance's XRP reserves barely budged, holding near 2.63 billion tokens, just 0.22% above the quarterly base. Weekly reserve growth came in at only 0.34%, implying incoming tokens were picked up by buyers almost as fast as they arrived. For traders, that combination — heavy inflow against a flat reserve on a major crypto exchange — is typically read as demand soaking up supply rather than coins staging for sale. The flow picture also frames the next upside reference: with $1.50 and then $1.60 cleared, desks have been citing $1.80 as the nearby target zone, a level that would require similar absorption if holders take profits there. Renewed retail interest is visible too, with beginner traffic around where and how to buy XRP picking up alongside the altcoin rally.

Martinez Maps $2 on Neckline Break

The technical map behind the move centers on a pattern analyst Ali Martinez has been tracking. XRP's advance from $1.25 — a 27.6% gain that carried the price to $1.58 before the $1.60 break — likely completed the right shoulder of a large inverse head-and-shoulders formation on the daily chart, in his published view. The $1.60 area marks the pattern's neckline: a decisive hold above it would confirm the setup and, by Martinez's projection, open the way toward roughly $2, an additional gain of about 30% from the breakout zone. His whale data adds flow-side corroboration, showing more than $2 billion worth of XRP accumulated by large holders in recent sessions. For context on how far the bullish case stretches, trader Peter Brandt has separately outlined a $5.40 target for XRP on a multi-year breakout — a scenario that depends on weekly-timeframe structure rather than this week's daily pattern. The nearer-term battleground is simpler: support and resistance traders will watch whether $1.60, once resistance, now acts as support on any retest. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on MEXC.

$2 Setup Hinges on $1.60 Hold

The rally hit a wall within a day of the breakout attempt. After topping out at $1.65 — where price met the 61.8% Fibonacci extension and heavy selling pressure — XRP slid 3.35% over 24 hours to $1.51, with 24-hour volume up 9.82% to $7.81 billion as profit-taking accelerated. The pullback was not XRP-specific: bitcoin fell 1.7%, total crypto market capitalization dropped 1.74%, the Altcoin Season Index shed 8.16%, and hawkish Federal Reserve signals weighed on risk appetite. Attention now centers on the $1.55 support at the 78.6% Fibonacci level — a hold could allow sideways consolidation, while a break risks a test of $1.48; reclaiming the $1.57 mid-retracement level is seen as the first step to reviving the uptrend. The Sept. 29 XRPL Batch V1.1 upgrade is cited as a potential near-term catalyst.

(as of 23:03 UTC) All three threads — price, derivatives positioning and sentiment — converge on one question: whether $1.5014, spot after a -4.58% 24h move, can hold. The most load-bearing primary source here is COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R engine, which scores the $1.3685 support at 83/100 (STRONG) on a flip R→S, BB Middle, SMA 20 and Ichimoku Senkou A confluence, with $1.4425 at 76/100 (ATR Lower, EMA 20, Fibo 0.382, LVN) and $1.2532 at 64 backing it up; overhead, $1.5315 stands at 61/100 (Fibo 0.236, BB Upper, Pivot Point) with $1.6999 at 59 beyond it. Derivatives positioning leans constructive — funding at 0.0030%, open interest near $1.10B and a 2.74 long/short account ratio (73.3% long / 26.7% short) — while RSI at 59.88, a bullish MACD signal and an uptrend read keep the structure intact despite the Fear & Greed Index at 71 (Greed). If the 83-scored floor holds and bulls reclaim $1.5315, the path toward $1.6999 becomes arithmetic rather than hope; if it breaks, late longs risk becoming exit liquidity into the $1.2532 shelf.