Ripple's XRP Sales Saw a Historic Low in Fourth Quarter of 2019

Ripple's XRP sales continued to drop in the second half of 2019, with sales of the token reaching a historic low in Q4. According to a Jan. 22 blog post by Ripple - the firm behind the third largest crypto asset by market cap - total XRP sales in Q4 2019 accounted for $13.08 million, down more than 80% from the $66.24 million reported in Q3 2019.Ripple got rid of programmatic sales.

The massive decline in XRP sales in 2019 does not appear to be unexpected though.

Specifically, quarterly XRP sales were consecutively dropping in 2019 as Ripple initiated the pause of programmatic sales in mid-2019.

"In the short term, this means Ripple's sales of XRP in Q2 2019 will be substantively lower than in the previous quarter-with our stated target of 20bps for programmatic sales of XRP volume, as reported by CoinMarketCap, likely dropping to less than 10bps. Longer term, by being more demanding about our expected standards for market structure and reporting, we hope to begin raising the bar industry-wide."

As Ripple started to reduce the amount of programmatic sales in Q3, the company subsequently saw a notable decline of total XRP sales.

In Q2 2019, Ripple's programmatic sales accounted for nearly 60% of XRP sales that quarter, at $144 million out of the $251 million total.

Finally, Q4 2019 appears to be the first quarter when Ripple has finally got rid of programmatic sales altogether, focusing solely on over-the-counter sales.

Total XRP sales in Q4 2019 only included OTC sales or institutional direct sales.

While Ripple does not explicitly define the term of a programmatic sale on its website, the company notes that such sales are associated with passive trade execution.

"Ripple's programmatic XRP sales have been done with the goal of minimizing market impact. The company did this through limiting XRP programmatic sales to what it considers a small percentage of traded volume, which was executed across multiple exchanges. Ripple relies on programmatic sales partners who mainly execute trades passively; their trading volumes do not vary based on changes in the price of XRP, but they do increase as overall XRP trading volumes increase."