Market Pressure Mounts as XRP, DOGE, ETC, XLM and HBAR Crack Weekly Charts
Market structure is cracking across a swathe of well-known altcoins this week as the momentum that carried many names through 2024 and early 2025 is met with renewed selling in 2026. Crypto commentator Blockchain Backer laid out the picture in a series of terse tweets. What follows is a closer look at why those technical cracks matter, where the key levels sit, and what traders should watch next.
XRP and DOGE Wobble
Ripple’s XRP looks the most immediate headline risk. Blockchain Backer tweeted about XRP, “XRP is dipping below its 100-week moving average.” The token is trading around $1.69 at the time of writing, off recent highs and back toward its longer-term trend lines. Price data shows XRP slipping and encountering resistance around the weekly moving averages that once acted as a support cushion.
That black 100-week moving average is more than a cosmetic line. It’s where multi-year buyers historically step in, and losing that level on a weekly close increases the chance of a deeper test toward the 200-week band if buying interest dries up. Short-term indicators on charting platforms are already skewing bearish, with momentum oscillators showing room for additional downside unless a decisive reclaim occurs.
The chart of Dogecoin (DOGE) is one of shifting trader psychology rather than fundamental rewrites. Blockchain Backer posted about DOGE, “Unable to reclaim weekly levels, Doge continues lower.” DOGE changed hands near $0.11 this week after failing to reassert control above the critical weekly range roughly between $0.13 and $0.15, the zone that had been flipped from resistance to support during the post-rally consolidation.
Experts flagged the inability to retake weekly levels as the main reason sellers regained control: when speculative coins can’t reclaim weekly structure, momentum traders reduce positions and volatility tends to favor sellers. The $0.13–$0.15 band will act as a magnet for any short covering rallies, but if the price remains under those levels, the path of least resistance is toward the next support cluster, nearer $0.09–$0.10. The entrance of institutional-style products tied to meme coins earlier in 2025 offered a bid; now it’s clear that without reclaimed weekly control, those flows can evaporate quickly.
ETC, XLM and HBAR Struggle
Ethereum Classic (ETC) illustrates the same structural rule at work across the market, which is that failure to reclaim weekly support tends to convert prospective buyers into sellers. Blockchain Backer shared about ETC, “Ethereum Classic unable to reclaim weekly support, continues lower.”
ETC is trading in the low double digits and has stalled repeatedly under former weekly support that would need to be turned back into a floor before bulls can reasonably argue for a resumption of the prior uptrend. The pattern seen on weekly timeframes is a series of lower highs with diminishing volume on attempts to lift price, a combination that often presages a test of deeper support, particularly if macro liquidity falters or if the broader crypto indices retrace. Active traders will be watching the volume profile around the $10–$12 zone for signs of absorption or capitulation.
Stellar Lumens (XLM) is notable because it recently violated a concrete seasonal low. XLM is trading around $0.18–$0.19 and, as flagged by the chart highlighted in the tweets, has dropped below the April 2025 low, an emotional and technical line that had anchored many stop orders and buying interest.
Dropping beneath that April trough exposes the asset to a clearance of bids that might pull the price into the mid-$0.10s if sellers remain dominant. What makes these drops more meaningful is the confluence: when a cohort of mid-cap coins simultaneously trades below weekly moving averages or important historical lows, it signals a broader rotation out of post-rally positions rather than isolated profit taking.
Hedera (HBAR) rounds out the look at weak spots. The token is trading under $0.10 and has been “breaking down,” a phrase the analyst used that captures both the slope of the move and the failure of buyers to defend support. HBAR’s chart shows a steady loss of intra-week support levels and a lack of volume-backed bounces, which are classic symptoms of momentum drying up.
When a project loses its weekly technical footing, selling usually comes in waves, algorithmic rebalances, liquidations from derivatives desks, and investors simply trimming positions. Until HBAR can close a week back above the recently lost levels on noticeably higher volume, most technicians will treat any bounce as a shorting or scalp opportunity rather than the start of a sustained comeback.
From Rally to Retest
Taken together, these moves are not isolated; they suggest a risk-off repricing across several mid-to-large cap altcoins. The mechanics are predictable: failing to reclaim weekly levels hands initiative back to sellers, weekly moving averages shift from support to resistance, and absent decisive macro or on-chain catalysts, trend-following money will wait for clearer evidence before adding exposure.
In practical terms, that means traders should watch for three technical confirmations before assuming the bulls are back in charge: (1) weekly closes above the key moving averages for each coin, (2) rising volume on those weekly closes (indicating genuine buyer interest), and (3) subsequent retests that hold, i.e., the classic “break, reclaim, retest” sequence.
Risk management is key. For traders chasing momentum, a sensible approach right now is to keep long positions small and use tight stops, or, if you’re looking for downside plays, wait for clear failed weekly retests and be selective about short entries. For longer-term holders, these dips can offer accumulation points but only at modelled risk levels and with an understanding that timeframes may lengthen; reclaiming weekly structure across this group could take months.
Finally, keep an eye on broader market drivers. Macro liquidity conditions, narratives around regulatory policy in the U.S., and any exchange-level product launches or withdrawals that could cause abrupt re-allocation of capital. While the charts are bearish for XRP, DOGE, ETC, XLM, and HBAR right now, reversal remains possible if buyers step in with conviction and volume. Until then, the map is one of caution. The moving averages and weekly structure that defined the 2024–25 rally have become the battlegrounds for the next directional phase in 2026.
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