XRP price eyes 16% drop as key XRP Ledger network metrics dip

XRP price is stuck in a deep bear market, a trend that may persist as key metrics in the ecosystem pull back. 

Ripple (XRP) token dropped to $2.17 today, Nov. 27, down by over 40% from the year-to-date high. Its retreat has cost investors billions of dollars as its market capitalization moved from nearly $200 billion earlier this year to $131 billion today.

Top XRP Ledger metrics are falling

One potential reason why the XRP price is at risk is that the XRP Ledger network growth has stalled. 

Data compiled by XRPScan shows that the number of payments handled on the network have dived. It handled 451,250 transactions today, Nov. 27, down sharply from this week’s high of over 1.2 million. 

More data shows that the number of active users dropped to 99,000 from this month’s high of 254,000. Additionally, active accounts in the XRP Ledger has dropped to below 20,000.

Meanwhile, the network’s burn rate has been in a strong downtrend. The total XRP burned in fees was less than 500 on Thursday, down from the August high of over 5,000 tokens. This means that the impact of the token burn on the token has been relatively limited. 

XRP Ledger’s role in the real-world asset tokenization industry has also retreated. It has a total value locked of $207 million, making it the tenth-biggest chain. 

Still, on the positive side, some of XRP’s metrics are improving. For example, its role in the stablecoin industry continues to grow, with the market cap of Ripple USD hitting over $1.2 billion. RLUSD in the XRP Ledger has soared by over 90% in the last 30 days.

The other notable metric is that XRP ETF inflows have continued rising this week. These inflows soared by $21 million on Wednesday, bringing the cumulative inflow to $643 million. That is a sign that there is strong demand for the coin among American investors.

XRP price technical analysis

The daily chart shows that the XRP price has remained in a deep bear market in the past few months. It has plunged from the year-to-date high of $3.66 in July to the current $2.2.

Most importantly, the coin has continued forming a series of lower lows and lower highs, with the recent rebound being part of that cycle.

XRP also remains below the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA) and the Supertrend indicator, meaning that bears are outdoing bulls.

Therefore, the most likely XRP price forecast is bearish, with the initial target being this month’s low of $1.8173, which is about 18% below the current level. 

The bearish outlook will become invalid if the Ripple price rebounds and moves above the short-term and longer-term moving averages.