John Bollinger and Peter Brandt speak out: XRP surges 12%, institutional funds continue to flow amid bullish and bearish disagreements

XRP prices are surging strongly, with a daily increase of 12.3%, pushing its market capitalization to remain the fourth largest in the cryptocurrency market. As the market warms up at the start of 2026, XRP’s trend has once again become a market focus. Differing signals from technical analysts and institutional funds present a clear divergence in its outlook.

Market data shows that XRP has gained nearly 30% in January, with the price once reaching $2.38, and its market cap surpassing $140 billion, overtaking BNB. Against the backdrop of the overall cryptocurrency market cap increasing by 8.2% at the beginning of the year, XRP’s performance is particularly outstanding, reflecting a rebound in risk appetite among investors.

John Bollinger, founder of the Bollinger Bands indicator, pointed out that although XRP has strong upward momentum, its overall structure remains weak. Its movement is more of a “reaction” to the market rather than a trend leader. He believes the current strength hierarchy is still led by BTC and ETH, with XRP trailing behind. This view suggests that further gains for XRP are highly dependent on the overall market environment.

Legendary trader Peter Brandt is focused on XRP’s oscillation within the $1.5 to $3.5 range. According to his consistent technical analysis logic, if the price effectively breaks above or below this range, the trend could be further amplified, becoming a key watershed for the next phase of the market.

Although mainstream analysts remain cautious, bullish voices are growing stronger in the market. Some believe that the XRP/BTC monthly chart is about to break through the Ichimoku Cloud, which would be the first time since 2018, indicating that XRP could significantly outperform Bitcoin in relative performance. Some traders have even set medium-term targets of $3, $4.5, and close to $7.

Meanwhile, continuous capital inflows into XRP ETFs provide fundamental support. The total assets of XRP ETFs have reached $1.65 billion, showing that institutional investors’ willingness to allocate to XRP through compliant channels continues to grow. Data from CoinShares indicates that XRP-related fund inflows in 2025 increased by approximately 500% year-over-year, far surpassing the growth rates of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Overall, XRP’s current rise is driven by overall market sentiment and supported by structural inflows of institutional funds. In the short term, whether key price levels are broken will likely determine if XRP can initiate a more sustained trend.