XRP Sees Biggest Exchange Inflow Of 2026—Shortly Before Even Larger Outflows

On-chain data shows exchanges recently received the largest XRP deposit wave of 2026, before withdrawals completely flipped the trend.

As pointed out by on-chain analytics firm Santiment in an X post, exchange-activity related to XRP has occurred on a notable scale in both directions recently. The indicator of interest here is the “Exchange Flow Balance,” which measures the net amount of a given asset that’s moving into or out of the wallets connected to centralized exchanges.

When the value of the indicator is positive, it means traders are depositing a net number of tokens to these platforms. As one of the main reasons why investors their transfer their coins to exchanges is for selling-related purposes, this kind of trend can be bearish for the cryptocurrency.

On the other hand, the metric being below the zero mark suggests the outflows are overwhelming the inflows and a net amount of the asset is exiting exchange-associated addresses. Such a trend can be a sign that holders are accumulating, which can naturally have a bullish effect on the coin.

Now, here is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the XRP Exchange Flow Balance over the last few months:

As displayed in the above graph, the XRP Exchange Flow Balance observed a huge positive spike on Thursday, suggesting that a notable amount of the asset entered into exchanges. Interestingly, this move from traders arrived as the cryptocurrency slumped to a local bottom around $1.27.

In total, the spike in the Exchange Flow Balance observed 22.80 million tokens shift to exchanges, representing the largest daily net inflow of 2026. Given the timing, it’s possible that investors made these deposits to participate in panic selling as the coin’s price went down.

Contrary to what these traders may have feared, though, the cryptocurrency’s price actually saw a rebound after the inflows. The analytics firm noted:

The massive flow of coins moving on to exchanges occurred right at the local bottom for $XRP’s price, leaving many retail traders who decided to sell off at the lowest price in 15 weeks… wishing they hadn’t.

From the chart, it’s visible that as the rebound started, other investors, or some of the same traders, decided to take XRP supply off exchanges instead. This negative spike, involving the withdrawal of 25.24 million tokens, more than made up for the massive inflows, thus reversing the trend in the exchange supply.

XRP breached the $1.36 mark during its recovery surge, but the coin has since retraced again as its price is now trading around $1.30.