XRP price could be setting up for a potential short-term further pullback before its long-term bull leg in 2026.
On the monthly chart, XRP price appears to be forming an ascending triangle pattern, which is characterized by a rising lower trendline and a flat upper resistance near $3.32. After testing the pattern’s resistance and failing to break above it, XRP fell more than 55% to trade around $1.35 on April 1, a move that confirms the near-term bearish leg within the broader pattern, according to a technical analysis from trading expert Ali Martinez.
As such, Martinez predicted that the altcoin could be preparing for an additional decline of approximately 30% before a meaningful recovery, which he views as a buying opportunity. He identifies the multi-year rising logarithmic support trendline, the ascending triangle’s lower boundary, as a key support level that could halt further downside.
“If XRP is following this ascending triangle, it could offer a short-term buying opportunity and a strong long-term uptrend,” Martinez stated.
Why is XRP price bearish in the short term but bullish in the long term?
The primary driver of the near-term bearish case is reduced capital inflows and declining speculative positioning. For instance, the United States spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded negative monthly net inflows in March 2026 for the first time since their launch in November 2025, as per metrics from SoSoValue.
Additionally, the XRP’s Open Interest (OI), a figure that shows the total value of active contracts still held by market participants across all exchanges, has declined by over 73% in the past two quarters to hover around $2.45 billion at the time of reporting.
However, the altcoin’s macro bullish outlook is bolstered by its robust fundamentals. For instance, amid notable growth in Ripple Labs’ enterprise business, institutional investors, led by Goldman Sachs Group, have invested in XRP through various regulated products.
