An XRP community figure has identified what he characterizes as market manipulation while stating the pattern enables him to acquire XRP at favorable prices. Digital Asset Investor stated that institutions appear to be playing games in the cryptocurrency space recently.
The Kobeissi Letter, a global capital market commentary platform, noted that Bitcoin’s price suddenly jumped $3,000 within a single hour on December 17. The leading cryptocurrency surged from $87,000 to cross $90,000 during this movement.
Leveraged traders holding short positions faced liquidations totaling $120 million due to the sharp price increase. Shortly after Bitcoin rose above $90,000 and subsequent liquidations occurred, the price collapsed back to the $86,000 region.
The Kobeissi Letter remarked on the sequence of events, emphasizing that the entire episode created a $140 billion swing in Bitcoin’s market capitalization within two hours. This figure exceeds XRP’s current market cap of $111 billion, providing perspective on the volatility scale.
XRP followed Bitcoin’s volatility pattern at a reduced magnitude. The token traded at $1.90 at 13:30 UTC on December 17 before spiking 4% to reach $1.98 at 15:30. Approximately 30 minutes later, XRP dropped 5.5% to $1.87.
The price movement resulted in XRP gaining $5 billion in market capitalization within one hour, then losing $7 billion just 30 minutes afterward. This aligns with allegations of market manipulation techniques supposedly used by market makers for profit generation. Many observers attributed the October 10 market crash to similar manipulative approaches.
Digital Asset Investor views these conditions as opportunities to purchase additional XRP tokens at reduced prices. He stated that despite institutions playing games, he will continue accumulating XRP cheaply. The comment aligns with sentiments from other XRP community figures encouraging investors to view downturns as accumulation opportunities.
When XRP traded at $2.25 last month, analyst Income Sharks suggested investors who missed buying below $2 might receive another chance. As bearish pressure emerged in early November with XRP trading at the lower end of the $2 range, finance expert Coach JV stated that seeing the token below $2 would be favorable.

