XRP fell to $1.35 on Friday, its lowest level since late April, as a brief rally fizzled and technical warnings from analysts pointed to more downside. The cryptocurrency had touched a two-month high of $1.54 on Thursday after progress on the CLARITY Act, but then dropped roughly 12% over the next five days.
Why the rally stalled
XRP had traded in a tight range between $1.36 and $1.50 over the past month before the CLARITY Act news pushed it to $1.54. That level turned out to be a ceiling. The token was rejected there and reversed sharply, losing all of its gains and then some. The rejection came at a key resistance zone: the weekly 20-period exponential moving average (EMA) at $1.50. That level, along with the 50 EMA at $1.80, has not been retested since those moving averages crossed over in January 2026 — a crossover that preceded XRP's drop to a February low of $1.11.
Technical warnings pile up
Analyst ChartNerd said the weekly Stochastic RSI is showing a death cross, a bearish signal that risks pushing XRP toward new lows. ChartNerd warned that if the token fails to break above the weekly 20 EMA and convert it into support, the next leg down could come later this year. A rejection from those EMAs could send XRP toward a cycle bottom of $0.70, a previous macro resistance level that hasn't been retested since it flipped.
Meanwhile, analyst Ali Martinez noted that XRP is in the tightest Bollinger Band squeeze on the three-day chart in over a year, calling it a 'definitive no-trade zone.' Martinez said a close above $1.50 could lead to $1.80, but a breakdown below $1.29 could open a correction toward $1.00.
Right now the token sits at $1.35, just above the $1.29 level Martinez flagged as a potential trigger for a steeper drop. The weekly 20 EMA at $1.50 and the 50 EMA at $1.80 remain formidable barriers. With both the death cross and the Bollinger Band squeeze suggesting a big move is coming, traders are watching to see whether XRP can reclaim the $1.50 area before it slips further.
