SBI’s XRP ETF Fails to Lift Price as Traders Sell the News

XRP (XRP) is trading lower this Wednesday despite a landmark announcement from Japan’s SBI Holdings about launching the country’s first XRP-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF).

SBI Holdings Unveils XRP ETF in Japan

XRP has slipped by over 5.65% since Tuesday to around $2.95, extending a multiday pullback from its local high of $3.41.

The latest sell-off follows SBI Holdings’ July 31 filing, which shows it would launch XRP and Bitcoin ETFs for institutional and retail investors in Japan. However, the announcement went viral this Tuesday when an XRP mouthpiece account on X, dubbed JackTheRippler, shared it.

The firm cited growing demand for diversified crypto investment vehicles and the legal clarity around XRP in Japan as key factors behind the move.

XRP was up 75% in 2025 at one point in time, but has since entered a correction stage. Often, traders sell overbought assets to lock in early profits, even in the face of sound fundamentals, a response commonly known as “sell-the-news.”

It does not necessarily reflect the underlying asset’s lack of bullish sentiment. Instead, prevailing profitabilities may have influenced traders’ muted responses to good events such as the SBI’s XRP ETF announcement.

As of Wednesday, over 96% of XRP holders are sitting atop unrealized profits, which have historically established market tops, according to data resource Glassnode.

Also, a growing bearish divergence between XRP’s rising prices and falling relative strength index (RSI) indicates a slowing upside momentum, which could have turned traders cautious about placing aggressive bullish positions in the market.

The technical scenario increases XRP’s odds of correcting toward its immediate support level at around $2.50, aligning with the 20-week exponential moving average (20-week EMA; the purple wave), in Q3.

Will XRP Price Rise Again?

On the daily time frame chart, XRP is apparently consolidating inside a bull flag pattern and was undergoing a correction after testing its upper trendline as resistance.

Should the correction continue, the cryptocurrency’s immediate downside target is near the flag’s lower trendline, aligning with the $2.50 target presented above. Nonetheless, bull flags are considered bullish continuation patterns.

As a result, XRP could eventually breakout in the direction of its previous uptrend, and rise by as much as its previous rally. That technically puts XRP/USD on the path toward $4.66 by the end of 2025, a level aligning with the 1.618 Fibonacci retracement line.