XRP Price Control in 2026: Who Really Controls It? Retail Owns Half, But There’s a Twist  

A market structure has been around on X for a few days, proposing an astounding claim about XRP. The claim is that retail investors are not pushing the XRP price, but they are also a key reason why it has not fallen further. 

The data drawn is based on the on-chain estimates recorded through April 2026. According to the data, around 50-55% of all XRP is in self-custody or in exchange wallets. On the other hand, institutions and EFTs hold just 1 to 2% of the total supply. Market makers account for roughly 60-70% of actual price movement on any given day. 

The conclusion is drawn from the numbers that show that XRP’s price floor is being held up not by active buying but by millions of holders who refuse to sell. With seven to eight million activated wallets and a growing number of multi-year holders, the majority of the supply has been removed from the market through inaction rather than demand. 

There is a retail conviction that retailers hold their positions despite market volatility. This creates an effective price floor, where a fall is prevented by buyers or holders who stop selling. It also means the price can maintain its position without major institutional buying. According to reports, price stability is directly tied to retail contributions, which are 40 to 60%. 

Morgan dismisses such a claim 

After reading this analysis, Bill Morgan explained that Ripple is still the largest single seller of XRP in the market, with hundreds of millions of tokens every month. According to him, if supply dynamics were driving XRP prices, those sales would face consistent downward pressure. However, they do not. This alone undermines the retail supply thesis. 

Moreover, he pointed to a fact that this claim failed to address: XRP’s price is largely influenced by Bitcoin. When Bitcoin price rises, XRP’s price also rises. When Bitcoin fell, XRP fell. This pattern has been persistent no matter how much Ripple sells or how tightly they hold their tokens. 

Morgan wrote on X, “The predominant explanatory factor remains Bitcoin price movement.” 

Where does this leave things? 

XRP is in a position where retail holders dominate ownership, but institutions influence price movements. The gap between these two raises conflicts. The arguments that belief and token holding support the floor, or that Bitcoin is simply doing most of the work, do not provide a complete answer. 

Nevertheless, Morgan’s questioning of the retail conviction needs to be answered before moving on to other reasons. 

XRP Price 

XRP is currently trading at $1.44, recording a 1.7% increase over the last 24 hours. The resistance level is between $1.40 and $1.45, driven by a high volume of holders who purchased around this range. The critical support level is near $1.28, and a breakdown below this could lead to a deeper correction towards $1.15. A weekly close above $1.67 is considered a major breakout point that could trigger a larger rally. 

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