A prominent XRP holder denounces what he claims is a deliberate and recurring plan to boost the token’s value. price before US markets open and then decline again once trading begins.
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The claim has divided the XRP community between those who see a coordinated attack and those who say the data points to something much more routine.
A chart, a pattern and a name
The community figure at the center of the debate is called Arthur online. Published a historical price chart showing XRP rising towards key resistance levels in the hours before US markets open and then quickly reversing after trading begins.
the story nine separate instances This sequence has been unfolding since February, and says that the same pattern has continued until March.
Arthur didn’t just mark the movements. He put a name to what he thinks is behind them: He called it a potential “new Jane Street playbook,” referring to the well-known quantitative trading firm.
🚨XRP IS BEING SYSTEMATICALLY MANIPULATED RIGHT NOW
Pump directly to key resistance → US market opens → unravels 📉
It happens over and over again.Is this the “NEW Jane Street playbook”?
XRP fell 44% from highs despite MASSIVE @Vibe news, ETF exposure, acquisitions, licenses…… pic.twitter.com/z6gqJwh6Eq
—Arturo (@XrpArthur) March 13, 2026
He argued that the large number of events, combined with the high volume of leveraged long positions opened during each episode, makes coincidence an unlikely explanation.
What adds weight to his frustration, at least from his perspective, is the broader context. Ripple has made headlines recently with billion-dollar acquisitions and continued ETF inflows.
However, despite that activity, XRP is still about 40% below its recent highs. Every time the price tries to break out, sellers appear and push it down. Arthur sees that as part of the same problem.
The community rejects the manipulation theory
Not everyone in the XRP community bought the argument. A trader named Robert W entered the conversation and offered a different reading.
His position was that price movements of this type tend to repeat themselves across multiple assets when US market liquidity flows at the open.
Come on Arthur. Not everything is manipulation.
The same pattern appears across multiple assets when US liquidity enters the market.
It looks more like normal liquidity swings and profit taking than a “Jane Street secret playbook.”—Robert W. | XRP Facts and Figures (@RobertXRPFF) March 13, 2026
Profit taking and liquidity shifts, he said, are the most natural explanation, not a coordinated institutional strategy.
Arthur flatly rejected it. He noted the precision of the pattern: nine occurrences, each following an accumulation period with a large accumulation of long positions.
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Consistency level
That level of coherence, he insisted, does not happen by chance. He asked several well-known voices in the XRP space, including Vincent Van Code, Crypto Eri, BankXRP, Digital Perspectives, and Chad Steingraber, to take a closer look at the chart.
The debate was not long limited to price action. Another participant raised a broader criticism of the cryptocurrency market, arguing that it is largely based on speculation.
Featured image from ECS PaymentsTradingView chart
