- XRP prices are likely to keep rising as demand for the crypto-asset soars.
- Looming re-listing of XRP on crypto-exchanges will help spur up purchases.
XRP price continued with its newly-found momentum to rise 18.2% in 24 hours to trade at $0.690 at press time. Ripple has built on the widespread belief of an impending victory in the lawsuit brought against them by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rise by 27% in just a week. It has also consolidated its position in the crypto market, ranking seventh with a market capitalization of $32 billion.
Reaping big from an undetermined lawsuit
Usually, lawsuits are bad for stock prices. However, in XRP’s case, prevailing prices have the SEC lawsuit to thank for the latest price rally. After initially having fallen to as low as $0.17 following the filing of the lawsuit, XRP prices have risen by 170% since the start of 2021.
In yet another promising turn of events for Ripple, the US SEC has recently agreed to keep the company’s private email correspondence out of the public eye. This will insulate XRP prices from potential negative effects of the emails’ content.
Ripple’s upswing could also benefit from re-listing of XRP on crypto-exchanges that had removed them. It has emerged that the SEC inadvertently revealed that only Ripple and not exchange platforms would be penalized for XRP’s trading activities.
The regulator cited Section 4 of the Securities Act, which they said would only punish Ripple and its affiliates for XRP sales. This has built confidence among investors that the SEC lawsuit might not adversely affect XRP prices. Crypto-exchanges are already readying themselves to re-list XRP.
In the latest development, a Twitter user sparked speculation of an impending re-listing of the crypto-asset by US exchange platform Coinbase after sharing a screenshot of backend work on the platform to re-list XRP. Re-listing of XRP on Coinbase would likely spur increased demand for the asset, especially from the large US market. However, there has been no positive confirmation of the news yet from Coinbase.
Institutions jostling for a share of XRP
In a significant pointer to the spike in activities involving XRP, data by Whale Alert has revealed that over $136 million worth of XRP has been moved in the last 36 hours. The biggest chunk of the volume was transferred at Binance Exchange and BitGo. This is an indication of positive institutional affinity towards XRP, which could push prices further up.
With more crypto exchanges expected to open up to XRP, individual purchases will also provide further demand, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
As speculation over the potential positive outcome of the SEC lawsuit persists, it has also emerged that Ripple might drop XRP if it loses the case. While being interviewed by CNN’s Julia Chatterley last week, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that the company would consider an alternative to XRP even though he remains confident of a favorable outcome. However, such an outcome would also cast doubts over XRP’s price in the days leading to the final ruling on the case.
Technical analysis
The first support for XRP prices will be established at $0.598. The second support will be at $0.633. With the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 53, a push by the bulls looks probable. This may drive prices higher to the resistance at $0.722.
