XRP Gains 36 Percent as Ripple Sees Rise in Active Addresses

Data analytics firm Santiment posted this week about the steady increase in wallet addresses for Ripple. The insight proves bullish for the firm’s native token, which has risen 36 percent since March 2020.

Rushing into Ripple

XRP’s performance throughout most of 2019 left investors disappointed. The cryptocurrency hovered in the $0.18-$0.33 range (per token) despite numerous projects, partnerships, and products launched by parent firm Ripple Labs. 

But 2020 is proving better for the payments-centric digital asset. Along with Bitcoin, XRP saw a drop only in March 2020 but gave investors a return of 22 percent and 36 percent in February and April respectively. 

On-chain data provider Santiment marked the increase in price with a proportional increase in Ripple’s wallets, indicating investors were, once again, rushing to acquire XRP ahead of the Bitcoin halving on March 12. 

A few other popular crypto traders even believe XRP may eclipse $10 per token, with predictions as high as $20 per token.

Coin Metrics, another analytics firm, noted in a recent update the actual circulating XRP supply is 30 billion, instead of the earlier presumed 45 billion. They stated: 

“Applying the Coin Metrics Free Float Supply Methodology to XRP indicates that there are 30B of a total 100B XRP that are available for trading within the market.”

Critics Voice Concerns

Which the lower-than-expected circulating supply is a bullish indicator from a technical standpoint, some seasoned analysts think most cryptocurrencies may never see their all-time-high values. 

Cantering Clark, who posts on Twitter and enjoys a significant following, recently stated many tokens touted with “promising tech” face a tough time after the multi-year bear market that cryptocurrencies have endured. He singles out XRP as one of the unfortunate victims.

He further added most traders are subject to “cognitive biases,” and continue to hold XRP based on hopes of a future rally.

Image via Shutterstock

Crypto Whales Load Up on XRP, Anticipation for a Surge to $0.30 Escalates

Ripple (XRP) prices have risen by more than 2% in the past 24 hours on CoinGecko, kickstarting the week with a bang. As more crypto whales have onboarded XRP, market analysts are expecting Ripple token to surge past the $0.30 mark.

Ripple to break its downtrend

XRP is currently retesting a key resistance level with its recent upward trend. If the resistance level is broken, a shift towards $0.30 will be observed, much to the delight of Ripple investors. However, if the critical price hurdle fails to be broken, XRP will likely undergo a price correction to $0.20, according to market analysts. The push past its resistance level is key, as the price hurdle has been a major obstacle for Ripple for the past two months.

The cryptocurrency was unable to gain bullish momentum over the recent months, in comparison to the rest of the market. Rather than gaining, Ripple tokens plummeted by more than 30%, as the digital assets went from a high of $0.33 in early August to a recent low of $0.24, according to market watchers.

Market trends from Tradingview suggested that a descending parallel channel had developed over Ripple’s 1-day data chart. However, recent bullish behavior may have potentially obliterated the downward trend.

If crypto whales continue to stock up on XRP, so to speak, Ripple tokens may break its overhead resistance and surge to the $0.30 point, which would translate to gains of around 20%.

Increase in Ripple whales – will XRP price go up?

According to crypto behavior analytics firm Santiment, the number of Ripple wallets holding sizeable amounts of XRP tokens, notably sums from 1 million to 10 million, increased. Since last week, around 14 new whales have joined the Ripple network, capitalizing on the drop in prices.

Data seems to be indicating that XRP’s downtrend is nearing an end. However, 50-day and 100-day moving averages must be closely monitored, as failure to transform these resistance barriers into support levels may result in a significant price correction for XRP.

At the time of writing, XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading at $0.248478 on CoinGecko.

RippleNet welcomes another partner

Recently, Ripple’s blockchain cross-border payments network onboarded another partner, Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB). The Vietnamese bank, said to hold $4.6 billion in assets valuation, joined RippleNet as a strategic partner. Head of OCB’s fintech and digital banking department, Phong Nguyen, said:

“With this investment in blockchain technology which is powered by Ripple, we target to apply new technology to business in order to cut down expenses, boost productivity and bring transparency and the best service to customers with Remittance & Cross-border payment – competitive fee, instant-payment.”

Coinbase Goes Down, Causing XRP Token Price to Flash Crash on the Crypto Exchange

Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange experienced technical difficulties that knocked down XRP token’s price on the platform by 30%.

Prior to the outage, Ripple’s XRP token was reported to have gained almost a dollar on the coin exchange. A crypto bull tweeted:

“We almost touched $1.00 on Coinbase #XRP”

Although XRP has gained considerably today, even hitting 100% increases on certain exchanges, no other platforms recorded $0.90 in price value for XRP except on Coinbase. The bullish rally on the coin exchange was therefore most likely to have been triggered by Coinbase users.

However, the victory was short-lived as XRP plummeted by 30% following a malfunction on the trading platform. The outage has been greeted by outrage, with many taking to Twitter to express their anger.

Coinbase goes offline again, sparking traders’ suspicion

According to people familiar with the talks, this is not the first time that the US-based coin exchange has experienced technical failure in tandem with crypto bull runs.

Previously, Coinbase had experienced outages that coincided with Bitcoin’s bull runs, such as the price rally that happened earlier in April. The technical difficulties that hinder activity on Coinbase do not always occur when Bitcoin and altcoins are rallying bullishly, but it has coincided enough times for investors to signal it.

This year alone, Coinbase has gone down at least nine times due to connectivity issues. In most cases, not much of an update is given to investors except for a message indicating that “Coinbase.com is experiencing connectivity issues.”

As Ripple has gained much attention in the past week and as Coinbase’s connectivity issue has coincided with XRP token’s recent price surge, one crypto enthusiast tweeted: “Coinbase goes down again. Lmao. Every single time.”

Others have previously called for legal action, signaling that there is something suspicious about how the crypto exchange shuts down when crypto markets are looking up. A crypto influencer tweeted:

“Coincidence that everytime we have huge market moves @coinbase shuts down? @SEC_Enforcement seriously investigate that is fishy. We need some transparency on this.”

Currently, Coinbase seems to be working normally again, with its official website indicating that “all systems (are) operational.” This was however not before crypto analytics “Down detector” picked up a spike in Coinbase problems at 1 pm. Most of the technical issues reported have to do with the website or the login.

Currently, XRP’s price on Coinbase seems to have recovered, and it is up 53.33% on the coin exchange in the last 24 hours.

Why Ripple’s XRP Token Price Soared by 130% in a Month

Ripple’s XRP token has been on fire lately, surging by 136% in the past month. Market sentiment surrounding XRP has been positive all-around, and its bullish rally is influenced by a few factors.

Bitcoin’s bull run benefits altcoins

With Bitcoin’s recent rally past $18,500, the mainstream cryptocurrency’s success has also benefitted altcoins. Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) have followed suit, recording surges of their own. Currently, Ethereum has managed to break past $600, rallying past a crucial psychological barrier and showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

As for XRP, the token has also outperformed and is currently trading up a near 35% in the last 24 hours. Speaking about how Bitcoin’s bull run has benefitted altcoins in more than one aspect, Brian Norton, Chief Operating Officer of MyEtherWallet, shared with Blockchain.news:

“The recent BTC price surge demonstrates how BTC functions within the greater digital asset space – as an entry point for the crypto curious, and as a hedge against positions in the experiments occurring on other blockchains – Ethereum in particular – which are actively driving the value creation in the space.”

The cryptocurrency market has been in the green lately, following Bitcoin’s run to hit its all-time high price again. Bitcoin’s gains have served to push altcoins higher.

Ripple Labs buys XRP to support healthy markets

In addition to Bitcoin’s incredible rally, XRP has also been bought back in bulk by Ripple Labs. According to their annual report in Q3, Ripple’s XRP asset purchases are currently estimated to be worth approximately $46 million. In order to “support healthy markets,” Ripple technology firm disclosed that they have purchased more XRP. They may also continue doing so in the future.

By buying XRP back, Ripple may cause the demand for XRP tokens to increase, therefore driving up the price of it. This may serve to partially explain XRP’s bullish momentum, although the amount of XRP bought back by Ripple is just a small dent compared to the token’s total market volume.

Rise in XRP addresses

On-chain analytics have also picked up that unique XRP addresses have been surging, fueling the token’s price gains. In addition to this, not only are unique wallet addresses going up, but XRP whales have also been increasing. In fact, blockchain analytics provider Santiment had disclosed:

“The rise of holders with coins containing large amounts of $XRP has been very apparent, as addresses with 10-1M tokens are at new ATH’s.”

Currently, there are at least 17, 625 XRP holders who own more than 1 million Ripple tokens. This may serve to push the price of the coin higher, and the surge in wallet addresses can translate to increased interest in Ripple.

Ripple’s new projects

Ripple has also been working on new projects, notably partnering with the Bank of America. Currently, the latter has been added to their website, signifying that the two have been collaborating. The Bank of America has leveraged RippleNet in previous projects, according to numerous sources familiar with the talks. This may serve to consolidate Ripple’s status as a cross-border payments network with low fees as well as a seamless and reliable user experience backed by an open-source distributed ledger technology.

Additionally, Ripple has been actively working to spread its wings. It is planning to open up regional headquarters in Dubai, which may expand its clientele base and increase the adoption of Ripple for its payments system and its native token XRP that acts as a bridge currency among fiats, stablecoins, and other cryptocurrencies

Kraken Newly Announces to XRP Holders Its Support for Spark Tokens’ Upcoming Airdrop, XRP Climbs Higher

After Kraken signaled that it was not planning on supporting the upcoming Spark tokens’ airdrop yesterday, the cryptocurrency exchange appears to have changed its mind.

A message released on the US-based crypto exchange’s official account stated that the Bitcoin trading platform will finally be partaking in Flare Networks’ airdrop of Spark tokens. Flare Networks, the Ripple-funded smart contract utility fork had announced that on December 12, more than 45 billion Spark (FLR) tokens will be received by XRP holders on a 1:1 ratio.

After having announced via its support team yesterday that it will be sitting out on the cryptocurrency promotion, Kraken appears to have undergone a change of heart. The exchange now announced that it will be joining other crypto platforms in making its network compatible with the airdrop. Per Kraken’s statement on its official Twitter account:

“#XRP holders: Here’s something to put a SPARK in your day – Kraken plans to support the Spark $FLR Airdrop Program. Stay tuned!”

The airdrop is a promotion of the new consensus protocol Flare, which will enable advanced smart contracts to run on the XRP Ledger, the blockchain backbone Ripple’s native token XRP. Flare will also leverage Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on its network, a blockchain-powered software that enables developers to create decentralized applications (Dapps).

With the upcoming Flare token airdrop, Ripple’s XRP price has skyrocketed, even hitting a two-year high earlier in November. In just a month’s time, Ripple had managed to increase by more than 130%.

Ripple has managed to outperform bigger cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and industry experts have speculated that Spark token’s upcoming launch has in part influenced XRP’s price movement.

Additionally, according to data from blockchain metrics XRPScan, the number of newly registered accounts have spiked on the XRP Ledger within a two-day span. Newly activated accounts went from 1,300 to over 8,000 in anticipation of Flare Network’s airdrop.

Many cryptocurrency exchanges will benefit from the Spark cryptocurrency distribution, but Coinbase as well as Binance.US figure among those that will not. In total, Spark tokens’ maximum supply will be 100 billion, with 45 billion that will be provided for distribution to XRP holders.

Flare Networks’ upcoming launch sends Ripple’s XRP soaring

Currently, Ripple’s XRP token is up 6.39% in the last 24 hours, with market bulls expecting the bridge currency to continue its bullish upward momentum.

Market sentiment surrounding Ripple has been more positive now than ever, as blockchain analytics have reported that the social volume of XRP may soon outrank that of Ethereum. Former Goldman Sachs investor Raoul Pal even tweeted his approval of XRP, saying that he was warming up to it.

Ripple XRP Price Could Suffer A Plunge Again if a Key Support Level Is Broken

Ripple is now the only mainstream cryptocurrency that has dropped while Bitcoin has surged. Ripple’s XRP price is down by 40% since its highs of $0.78 on Nov. 24. Since XRP fell below the 30-day moving average (MA) which then became a strong resistance level, it exacerbated the slide.

Now the 12-hour 90 period MA indicates a support level at $0.432. As the support level is still on an uptrend, we can expect a consolidation above it.

Source: Binance, Ripple XRP Chart

$0.34 will be the next support level

But we need to be careful if the XRP price plunges below the 12-hour 90 period MA indicated above. If so, XRP will drop to the next support level, which will be a 90-day moving average, at around $0.34, as indicated below.

Source: Binance, Ripple XRP Chart

Reasons for Ripple XRP plunge

The most important reason that may serve to explain XRP’s plunge on the crypto market may be the dumping of XRP funds on two separate occasions. As reported by Blockchain.News earlier this month, Ripple released one billion tokens from escrow again, following a carefully scheduled cryptographic practice the team has been keeping up since 2017. What is even worse, according to analyst Leonidas Hadjiloizou, former Ripple founder and CTO Jed McCaleb has sold over 200 million XRPs.

These whale behaviors no doubt have had significant influences on the XRP price plunge. Jed McCaleb was once the 40th richest person in the world mainly due to his large holdings of XRP. He may think it is time to secure his position by selling his XRP for fiat money during the period when the altcoin’s price was high. As the co-founder of Stellar Lumens (XLM), he also owns another source of income thanks to it.

On Nov 2, the XRP price reached as low as $0.2277 while on Nov 24, it reached 0.78, a 343% gain over the previous 21 days. This could lead to a mass cashout for profit by not only core Ripple members but by other XRP whales as well. 

Ripple XRP Crashes by 40% as Crypto Exchanges Halt XRP Trading

Cryptocurrency XRP has tanked by 40% on leading exchanges following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple.

On CoinMarketCap, XRP has plummeted to $0.270821 at the time of writing and the altcoin has lost over $10 billion in market value as major trading platforms have pulled or halted XRP transactions. Exchanges such as Hong-Kong based OSL have already begun the delisting process, suspending XRP trading for the time being. Other small crypto exchanges, namely Beaxy and CrossTower have also followed suit.

On its end, the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund has also liquidated its XRP holdings, which amounted to around $9.3 million worth of XRP and 3.8% of the fund.

The move to delist XRP seems to be an inevitability for those that will rather not be caught in the crosshairs between the SEC and Ripple. Should XRP be ruled as a security, exchanges that have had it listed on their platforms may risk being fined as well for selling and buying XRP. According to lawyers, this may be a smart move. Hailey Lennon, a shareholder at corporate law firm Anderson Kill, said:

“You know who is at risk if XRP is considered a security? EVERY EXCHANGE THAT LISTS XRP.”

In the official lawsuit, the SEC also hinted that ten digital asset trading platforms, which have been partnered with Ripple, may also risk penalties as they are in violation of federal securities laws through XRP trading. The lawsuit read:

“In 2017 and 2018, Ripple also entered into agreements with at least ten digital asset trading platforms -none of which were registered with the SEC in any capacity, and at least two of which have principal places of business in the United States- providing for listing and trading incentives with respect to XRP.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s threat may push a wave of crypto exchanges to halt XRP trading on their platforms. Should a behemoth crypto exchange like Coinbase move to delist XRP token, this will lead to the cryptocurrency’s price and market value sinking to unrecoverable lows, as an approximate $3 billion XRP are held on the crypto platform.

Ripple (XRP) Price Analysis – February 17, 2021

As positive sentiment surrounds the cryptocurrency sector at the moment, altcoins have benefitted and surged higher. Despite breaching the psychological barrier of $0.50, Ripple (XRP) is struggling to retain its spot among the top five biggest cryptocurrencies in the market. Currently, Cardano (ADA) has surpassed it. 

Since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, XRP’s volatility has been high. However, despite a decrease in its trading volume, XRP’s price has managed to afloat and even break past the $0.50 level. Here is a deeper look into what may be in store for XRP.

XRP/USD

Source: XRP/USD via TradingView 

Judging from the daily chart of XRP, the cryptocurrency encountered strong resistance on February 14 and was unable to break through the upward pressure line of the entire ascending channel. It fell from the resistance level of $0.65 after touching it momentarily and currently it is testing $0.50 and trying to turn it into a support level. XRP’s price is still in the ascending channel at the moment, meaning it has the potential to surge higher.

The 20-day exponential moving average ($0.47762) will be an important support. If the price drops from the 20-day moving average, the currency pair may test a lower support level of $0.44556 and fluctuate between $0.47762 and $0.44556 as it consolidates. If the price falls below this level of $0.44556, XRP may retest $0.37099.

At the same time, if the bulls can push the price above $0.65 and bring the volume to break the pressure line of the upper channel, XRP/USD may rebound to the previous highest point of around $0.79237. 

Source: XRP/USD daily chart via TradingView 

It can be seen from the MACD chart that the blue line has begun to turn downstream and is approaching the yellow signal line, which has almost merged together with the blue line. This shows a shrinking state for XRP as its transaction volume has slowly been decreasing. This is a precursor to the formation of a cross and would show a short-term bearish market.  

Ripple Pilots Private Version of XRP Ledger for CBDC Issuance

Ripple is testing the feasibility of a private version of its XRP Ledger, which will be specifically used to help central banks issue central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

According to its official announcement on March 3, the benefits of Ripple’s XRP Ledger will be adopted on the CBDC Private Ledger, as it will be powered by the same blockchain technology. Ripple further explained:

“Moving money on the CBDC Private Ledger will be cost-effective, reliable, and close to instantaneous […] The CBDC Private Ledger will handle tens of thousands of transactions per second (TPS) initially with the potential to scale to hundreds of thousands TPSs over time.”

Ripple is trialling a private version of its public open-source XRP Ledger to issue digital currencies backed by central banks.

Ripple asserts that transactions on the CBDC Private Ledger will consume less energy and will be 61,000 times more efficient than public blockchains that use proof-of-work consensus mechanisms.

On the CBDC Private Ledger, transactions between central banks will be conducted securely, and interoperability between major banking institutions will be guaranteed as part of CBDC innovation.

Upon the revelation that Ripple will work closely with central banks to launch CBDCs, XRP soared temporarily by 7.06%. However, it has since pulled back to trade at $0.47. What should we expect from the cryptocurrency in the next few days?

Ripple (XRP) Price Analysis

Source: XRP/USD via TradingView

Judging from the daily candlestick chart of Ripple (XRP), the bulls are currently working hard to push the price above the Exponential Moving Average Ribbon. If the bulls strengthen, the XRP price may break through the $0.50 threshold and retest the recent highs of $0.78. But for now, the bulls have insufficient momentum and XRP is trading around $0.4623.

As Bitcoin (BTC) dropped from the $50,000 mark to currently hovering around $46,500, other altcoins have also fallen in tandem with its movements. Ripple (XRP) is no exception, as it is currently dropping despite increasing by 7.06% yesterday.

The XRP price remained within the red rising parallel channels indicated above and it rebounded near the lower border of the channel.

Yesterday, XRP rose to the 20-day Moving Average of $0.468, which indicates that XRP has managed to break through its short-term downward trend, where it plummeted from a high of $0.64 to a low of $0.39.

Therefore, in the short term, whether the bulls could manage to increase buying power and push the price up to the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.5528 will depend on whether XRP can break through $0.468. Breaking the midline of the ascending channel may strengthen the bulls’ push for the next resistance level of $0.63.

On the other hand, if the bears manage to push XRP down to the 50% Fibonacci level of $0.44144, there is a huge likelihood that XRP/USD may then fall to $0.395.

A further decline from $0.395 may result in a bearish short-term market for XRP. An increase in selling pressure may send the price of the cryptocurrency below the lower support of the channel, down to the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of $0.3380. 

Currently, XRP appears to be bearish and is trading between $0.45 and $0.47.

Could Ripple's Upward Momentum Continue ? XRP Surges while Bitcoin and Ether Retrace

Ripple (XRP), the digital token created by Ripple Labs Inc., is currently the seventh-leading cryptocurrency with a market cap of around $21,391,909,521. It is trading at $0.475 at the time of writing.

After Bitcoin strongly broke through numerous resistances, reaching an all-time high of $61,781, it corrected by around 10%. Other well-known cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Chainlink (LINK), and Litecoin (LTC), have suffered various degrees of losses. However, XRP outperformed Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies on March 16 with an over 9% increase.

XRP’s MACD indicator is close to the state of cohesion and Stochastic RSI has formed a “golden crossover” – a bullish indicator on the price chart. So what will the next trend of the XRP/USD be?

Ripple (XRP) Price Analysis

Source:XRP/USD Daily via TradingView

Bitcoin has performed strongly in the past two weeks and broke through numerous resistances, reaching a maximum of $61K. However, in the past two weeks, the performance of Ripple (XRP) has not been very impressive as the token has been hovering around $0.40 to $0.50.

But there seems to be a phenomenon suggesting that XRP will usher in a new dawn, with the price of XRP rising by 9.07% in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, the bulls were strong and pushed the price to the level of $0.52. However, it seems that many short-term traders are eager to sell to cash out, thus forming strong selling pressure and pushing the price down to the closing price of $0.468. An inverted green hammer candlestick has been formed, suggesting that XRP’s bullish situation may soon be reversed.

At the time of writing, the XRP price is hovering at a level of $0.47. The price is still above the Exponential Moving Average(EMA) ribbon. The technical chart shows that as long as the XRP bulls can stay above the 20-day EMA, which is about $0.46, XRP’s uptrend will continue. Buyers will also need to push the price above the important $0.50 to unlock a new upside potential.

On the contrary, if XRP/USD falls, XRP’s price will be pushed down to the first support level of $0.415. However, this horizontal support line is not strong enough, which means that if XRP/USD falls, the currency pair may likely fall to the key support area of ​​$0.37.

From a technical perspective, the stochastic RSI indicator rebounded quickly after touching the 20 oversold mark. The blue K-line exceeded the yellow D-line and formed a bullish crossover. Both lines have turned upwards, which may make it difficult for the bears to initiate a downward breakdown.

If the bulls can actively defend the rally near yesterday’s intraday high so that the two lines can climb to the 50 point mark, the new momentum may push XRP to the first resistance at $0.566. If XRP/USD successfully breaks through this resistance, the bulls will set the target price at $0.6400 and any further increase will likely make XRP/USD hit its all-time high of $0.79.

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