The 90-day moving average of total fees paid on the XRP network has fallen from 5,900 XRP in February 2025 to roughly 500 XRP today, a 91.5% decline over nine months. Glassnode data frames this not as a routine fee market adjustment but as a near-total contraction in organic transaction demand following the speculative peak earlier this year.
Why it matters
Fee volume is one of the cleaner signals of genuine network utilisation — it strips out price noise and reflects whether real users are actually moving value on-chain. A 91.5% drawdown in the 90D-SMA points to a structural withdrawal of activity, not a temporary lull. The implication is that the transaction surge around the February high was largely speculative rather than driven by durable use cases.
Market impact
Glassnode's supply-in-profit metric compounds the concern. As of mid-November 2025, only 58.5% of XRP supply sits in profit — the lowest reading since November 2024, when XRP traded near $0.53. Despite the current price of approximately $2.15, roughly 26.5 billion XRP tokens (41.5% of circulating supply) are held at a loss. That distribution profile is characteristic of a top-heavy market where late-cycle buyers accumulated near the peak and have not yet rotated out, leaving the structure fragile to any sustained selling pressure.
Source: [Just a moment...](https://studio.glassnode.com/charts/fees.VolumeSum?a=XRP&c=native&mAvg=30&s=1646927748&u=1780963200&zoom=)
Frequently asked questions
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Why is the 91.5% fee decline on XRP significant beyond just lower transaction costs?
Fee volume tracks genuine network utilisation independently of price. A 91.5% drop in the 90-day moving average indicates that organic transaction demand has nearly vanished since the February 2025 speculative peak, suggesting the earlier surge was not driven by durable use.
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How can 41.5% of XRP supply be at a loss when the price is still ~$2.15?
A large share of XRP was accumulated near the February 2025 speculative peak at prices above the current level. Despite trading roughly 4× higher than November 2024's $0.53, those late buyers are underwater, creating a top-heavy supply structure that is fragile to further selling.
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What would signal a recovery in genuine XRP network demand?
A sustained rebound in the 90-day fee moving average toward prior levels would indicate renewed organic transaction activity. Until that metric recovers, on-chain data suggests network usage remains near post-peak lows regardless of price action.
Glassnode