XRP's 15% Drop Leads Crypto Market into Extreme Fear
By John Nada·Feb 5, 2026·3 min read
XRP's 15% drop leads the crypto market into 'Extreme Fear,' with significant losses across major cryptocurrencies. Investor confidence is wavering amid heavy liquidations.
XRP plunged 15% on Thursday, leading the top 100 cryptocurrencies in daily losses. This dramatic drop has resulted in Evernorth facing a $446 million unrealized loss on its XRP investment from October. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index hit 11, indicating 'Extreme Fear' as prices fell across the board. XRP was the worst-performing altcoin among leading cryptocurrencies, with a 15% decline over the last 24 hours as bearish market conditions persisted, and Bitcoin extended its losses. At the time of writing, XRP was trading for $1.30, down roughly 28% in the past week, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko. An earlier dip to $1.28 marked its lowest price since November 2024, following a surge after President Trump's election win. This marks the largest daily drop for any coin in the top 100 by market cap.
Ethereum followed suit, trading at $1,985 after a 6% plunge and roughly 30% loss over the past week. Dogecoin, the original meme coin, was down 8% to $0.09, shedding nearly 19% in seven days. BNB traded at $666, reflecting a 9% drop and a 23% decline in the past week. Solana dipped to $85, falling about 8% in one day and 27% over the last week. Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell below the $67,000 mark but was recently trading just above $68,000.
This downturn has led to the liquidation of more than $47 million worth of XRP derivatives contracts, with nearly $44 million being long positions, according to the analytics platform CoinGlass. Overall, more than $1.43 billion worth of crypto positions were liquidated in the last day. XRP trading volume surged by 57%, with over $11 billion worth changing hands in the past 24 hours.
The global crypto market capitalization has dropped 7.4% to $2.37 trillion, down from a peak of over $4.2 trillion in September 2025. Evernorth, the XRP treasury firm, now reports a $446 million unrealized loss on its 388,710,631 XRP holdings. The firm had previously aimed to raise over $1 billion to buy XRP and debuted as an XRP treasury in October. They spent $947 million on XRP but have not made further purchases since, watching their investment's value decline to approximately $501 million. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.
XRP ETF inflows have slowed but remained positive, with seven spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. seeing $5.9 million in volume and net inflows of $6.9 million, according to an ETF tracker maintained by XRP Insights. Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been vocal about the urgency to pass the Market Structure bill but hasn't commented on the bearish market sentiment. Crypto traders are feeling skittish as the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, maintained by CoinGlass, dropped to 11, firmly in the 'Extreme Fear' territory. This index briefly ticked into the greed category in January, peaking at 62, but has been steadily declining since.
The current market conditions reflect a significant drop in investor confidence, signaling potential challenges ahead for the crypto sector. With XRP leading the losses, traders should brace for continued volatility as sentiments remain bearish.