XRP price is experiencing a 4% bounce from its August lows as South Korean traders continue stacking significant bids under the market. According to latest reports, XRP ranks third among 275 Korean won markets on Upbit by 24-hour trading volume, behind only Tether and Bitcoin, demonstrating the token's continued importance to South Korean retail traders. The recovery comes despite XRP being down about 2% on the day, with the bounce testing the 80-day downtrend that has capped every rally since May 14, 2026. Within 1% of the market price, combined Upbit and Bithumb bids outweigh asks by roughly two to one, creating a 34% gap that signals genuine demand from Korean buyers.
The recovery is supported by improving momentum indicators that suggest selling pressure is losing strength. Since early June, XRP has carved marginally lower lows into August while momentum made higher lows, creating a classic bullish divergence. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) climbed from below 20 in early June to the low 40s at the August low, indicating accelerating buying interest despite declining prices. Bybit perpetual funding sits near +0.006%, only mildly positive and far from overheated levels. Additionally, XRP spot ETF inflows reached $14.86 million in the week ending July 31, the strongest in four weeks, with the run improving from previous outflows of $7.18 million, $6.78 million, and $8.15 million.
South Korean authorities arrested three suspects linked to a fake XRP staking scheme that stole 3.4 million XRP, worth approximately $8.6 million, from 71 investors. As reported by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), the group created a fraudulent website called Fxrpntwork.com between October 16-23, 2025, posing as the legitimate Flare Network and its FXRP ecosystem. The platform promised investors guaranteed principal protection along with monthly staking returns of 1.5% to 1.8%, with victims receiving XRP rewards worth between 750,000 to 900,000 won per month. The largest individual loss among victims reached approximately 1.6 billion won. Investigators tracked the stolen XRP on-chain and froze the suspects' wallets within three days of receiving the initial tip-off.
The current setup hinges on XRP achieving a daily close above $1.09 to break the falling channel and confirm the shift from bearish to bullish momentum. A clean break above this level opens room toward $1.16, then the July swing near $1.18, with $1.29 as the extended target. However, XRP must reclaim $1.08, the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement, to keep the bounce alive. Staying under $1.08 on a daily close would expose $1.03, then $0.95, which sits near the channel midline. South Korea's visible bid can also vanish if those orders are pulled, making the current level a critical inflection point for the token's near-term direction.
Large holder participation is supporting the current recovery, with Santiment data showing the share of XRP held by the 100 million to 1 billion cohort jumped from 10.66% to 11.98% around August 1. These are wallets holding between 100 million and 1 billion XRP, suggesting large holders may have added to weak momentum, though such shifts can also reflect wallet relabeling. The institutional demand improvement is evident in XRP spot ETF inflows reaching $14.86 million in the week ending July 31, marking the strongest inflow in four weeks. While institutions are not flooding in, the direction of demand has clearly changed, with the combination of Korean bids, improving momentum, and institutional flows all pointing toward a potential reversal from the current 80-day downtrend.
