Category: Ripple News

The bulls have continued to take a beating in the market, and XRP bulls, in particular, were recently in the spotlight as $1.27 million was liquidated from their long positions. This 6,350% spike in long liquidations is likely due to XRP’s recent price action, highlighting the general sentiment in its ecosystem. 

$1.27 Million In Longs Get Liquidated

Data from Coinglass shows that $1.27 million in long positions have been liquidated in the last 24 hours. This is massive in comparison to the $19,220 liquidated in short positions during this period. This occurrence was likely due to the 3.85% drop in XRP’s price, as the crypto token dropped to as low as $0.51 in the last 24 hours. 

XRP’s price decline during this period is believed to have been caused by the sharp correction in Bitcoin’s price, with the flagship crypto dropping below $62,000 again. However, there also seems to be a bearish sentiment in the XRP ecosystem, as data in the XRP derivatives market shows that trading volume has dropped by over 26%. 

Meanwhile, options trading volume has also dropped by over 46%. These figures suggest that XRP investors are choosing to remain on the sidelines, seeing as the bears look to have the upper hand at the moment. However, the bright spot is that there has been an uptick in open interest, which means some bulls are still willing to bet on the crypto token. 

These bulls might have a good reason to gamble on the crypto token, seeing as crypto analysts are predicting significant moves for XRP. Specifically, crypto analyst Jonathan Carter recently predicted that XRP could rise to $0.93 and further to $1.68. There is also the feeling that a rally is long overdue for XRP and could be anytime soon. 

When The XRP Rally Could Come

An XRP rally could be on the horizon with the legal battle between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple almost coming to an end, with a ruling expected soon enough. Crypto analyst JackTheRippler predicted that the crypto token could rise to as high as $100 once this case ends. 

While this price level is undoubtedly ambitious, XRP could still make a significant move to the upside, considering that it also enjoyed an upward trend on the back of Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling that the crypto token wasn’t a security. 

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at around $0.51, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

On-chain data recently showed that Ripple carried out its monthly escrow unlock for May. As expected, this has raised concerns about how it could affect the XRP price, especially since Ripple has been accused of manipulating the token’s price. 

Ripple Unlocks 500 Million XRP Tokens

Onchain data revealed 500 million XRP tokens were unlocked from Ripple’s escrow on May 1. The crypto firm is known to unlock 1 billion tokens monthly, although it looks to have only unlocked half this time around. The magnitude of these tokens always raises concerns, considering the negative impact they could have on the altcoin’s price if dumped on the market. 

Further analysis of the on-chain data shows that Ripple sent 300 million XRP out of the unlocked tokens to an escrowed account (2Not4co2op). Meanwhile, the crypto firm sent the remaining 200 million XRP tokens to another wallet (4vt5x1o91m). Considering that the 200 million XRP tokens weren’t sent to escrow, Ripple may have plans to sell them at some point, although it has yet to do so. 

It is also worth mentioning that Ripple received another 500 million XRP tokens from an unknown wallet (ymFZmKxEsF). However, these funds were immediately sent to an escrow account. As such, the community can heave a sigh of relief since most of the XRP tokens Ripple received in the last 24 hours have been sent back to escrow. 

Talks About Ripple Dumping On The Market Resurface

Following the latest token unlock, the crypto community has reignited talks about Ripple’s alleged dumping on XRP holders. The question of whether or not Ripple’s XRP sales influence the token’s price has been a long-standing discussion, with notable figures like pro-XRP crypto YouTuber Jerry Hall even accusing Ripple of intentionally suppressing the altcoin’s price with its sales. 

On the other hand, people like Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) have clarified that the crypto firm’s XRP sales do not impact the crypto token’s price. Moreover, Ripple already discontinued programmatic sales, which means that its transactions cannot affect prices on crypto exchanges. 

Ripple also noted in its recent court filing in its ongoing legal battle against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had taken measures to ensure its institutional sales did not violate securities laws. This suggests that Ripple conducts its sales over the counter (OTC) to avoid further scrutiny from the Commission. 

At the time of writing, the token is trading at around $0.5, up over 2% in the last 24 hours according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

The XRP price has seen some level of recovery over the last two days that has seen positive sentiment returning to the latocin once again. This has carried forward with the expectation that the price will continue to surge. One crypto analyst in particular, who goes by RLinda, has revealed why the cryptocurrency is set to surge 70%.

XRP Price Completes A False Breakdown

In the analysis that was posted on the TradingView website, crypto analyst RLinda outlined a number of reasons why the XRP price may be getting ready for a surge. One of these reasons is the fact that the altcoin has completed a false breakdown.

This is referring to the price crash that sent the price falling from $0.7 to $0.42, recording an almost 50% crash. However, the crypto analyst believes that this crash was bullish for the coin as it was basically a false breakdown, followed by a breakout.

In scenarios such as this, the XRP price could be headed for a breakout similar to the breakdown and eventual recovery between August and November 2023. Such a case could see the price rise 50% with a higher end of 70%.

Additionally, the XRP price has also been in long term consolidation, another factor that could contribute to this breakout. “XRPUSDT is forming a technical false break of support, in the long term consolidation above the zone should be formed with the purpose of continuation of growth, the potential of which can be opened by 50-70%,” the analyst stated.

The State Of XRP

XRP has already seen investors returning once it was clear the worst of the crash. Crypto whales, in particular, have been making their bets, moving 600 million XRP tokens. As NewsBTC reported, whales holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP increased their holdings by 30 million in just one week. But even more interesting is the fact that they have moved up to 600 million tokens in the space of two weeks.

These moves come ahead of crypto analysts prediction major upside for the cryptocurrency. One of those is crypto analyst Egrag Crypto who predicted that the XRP price is ready to spike as high as $1.4. This would mean an over 100% increase in price.

However, XRP has not exactly been the market favorite in recent times. Its daily trading volume has seen a notable decline, with Coinmarketcap reporting a 20% drop to $1.33 billion in the last day. Nevertheless, the altcoin remains the 7th-largest in the space, with a market cap of $30.3 billion.

With the crypto market on the rise once again, XRP has seen positive headwinds and this has triggered an improvement in sentiment among investors. This positive recovery has seen more crypto investors move to acquire the altcoin, pushing a very important holder cohort toward new all-time high levels.

Wallets Holding More Than 1 Million XRP Nears ATH

Over the last year, there has been a lot of selling among XRP investors as the price continued to struggle. This poor performance continued despite Ripple securing multiple partial victories against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), prompting investors to jump ship.

One XRP holder cohort that witnessed a lot of selling is the addresses holding at least 1 million XRP tokens. At current prices, it would mean that these wallets are holding at least $500,000 on the lower end of the cohort, making this the cohort that includes the dolphins and whales.

The number of addresses holding at least 1 million tokens had hit its all-time high back in June 2023. But with the price falling, these large holders began to sell, and at one point, the number of wallets sat around 50 wallets below its all-time high of 2,014.

However, with the crypto market moving toward another bull market, expectations are that the price of XRP will follow the rest of the market, prompting large investors to return. Data from Santiment, an on-chain data aggregation platform, shows that over the course of 2024, the number of wallets holding 1 million tokens or more rose steadily and by April, this figure is now sitting at 2,013, one wallet away from reaching its previous all-time high, and two wallets away from setting a new record.

Why Are Large Investors Returning?

One reason why large investors are returning to XRP could be that the indicators are finally turning bullish for the altcoin. There was also an opportunity for these investors to buy the tokens for cheap when the market crashed and altcoins like XRP suffered almost 40% losses.

Related Reading: 3 Major Metrics To Watch Out For That Can Impact Ethereum Prices

Popular crypto analyst TonyTheBull took to X (formerly Twitter) to reveal the significance of this price crash. According to the analyst, it was the final capitulation shakeout for the altcoin. Comparing it to a similar shakeout in 2017 shows that after this, XRP could go on a massive rally.

No, this was the final capitulation shakeout in $XRP https://t.co/Z0uQ2GhS7v pic.twitter.com/qfWC6H8DNv

— Tony “The Bull” Severino, CMT (@tonythebullBTC) April 23, 2024

The large investors could be expecting this rally as well, hence, why they have been buying up large amounts of coins. If the 2017 rally is anything to go by, then the XRP price could quickly barrel through $1, printing significant returns for investors.

XRP could continue a price correction in the short term as recent price action has put it rebounding against a resistance level of $0.5. On-chain data has also revealed a row of transactions from whales of the cryptocurrency in the past 24 hours, but are they bullish or bearish on XRP? These large transactions have been a mix of both, although the trading volume of each transaction could point to them being bearish rather than bullish. 

XRP Whales On The Move

Large XRP transactions, often indicators of whale activity, have spiked recently. XRP has seen some major whale movements over the past few weeks that point to a bearish sentiment among big players amidst a price correction for the cryptocurrency in the past seven days. However, while some of these big transfers are going into crypto exchanges for a potential selloff, some are also anonymous wallets shifting huge amounts of tokens from crypto exchanges into private wallets.

Whale transaction tracker Whale Alerts posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) instances of enormous transactions on April 16. The first notable transaction was the transfer of 158 million tokens worth $77 million from a private wallet into the crypto exchange Binance. This massive transfer into the exchange ignited worrying signs for holders hoping for a reversal from bearish momentum into a price surge. Similarly, there was a transfer of 28.9 million XRP worth $14.2 million into Bitstamp. 

On the other hand, Whale Alerts also indicated the outflow of XRP from Binance into private wallets. Particularly, the tracker noted the transfer of 100 million XRP, worth around $48 million, into private wallets. These transfers were made with three transfers in rapid succession, with each transfer of 33.33 million XRP worth $16.2 million. 

Interestingly, the tracker also noted the movement of large amounts of tokens on April 15. Overall, there were transfers of 457 million XRP worth over $234 million into crypto exchanges Bithumb, Bitvavo, and Bitstamp. The largest transaction was the transfer of 390 million tokens worth $201 million into Bithumb.

What’s Next For The Altcoin?

Whale transactions are very important in the world of cryptocurrencies. Prices could swing massively at any time based on the actions of a few big players. For regular XRP investors, these whale transfers highlight the volatility and uncertainty in the current price of XRP. At the same time, their movement into crypto exchanges is bearish, and they give investors a glimpse of the the altcoin’s price trajectory in the short term. 

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $0.4986. Although currently up by 1.79% in the past 24 hours, XRP seems to be reversing after hitting $0.5 again. The altcoin is still in a price correction on the larger timeframe, as it is currently down by 18% and 20% in the past seven and 30 days, respectively.

According to a crypto analyst, XRP is set to go on a massive rally to $22. Additionally, many experts believe that the price of the altcoin will experience an enormous price increase after the next Bitcoin halving.

XRP has struggled to a higher degree compared to the others in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap and it seems like the bearish sentiment is far from over. Ripple just unlocked a massive amount of tokens from escrow, which could threaten the price further.

Ripple Unlocks 500 Million XRP

In the early hours of Friday, on-chain whale tracking platform Whale Alert posted two transactions carrying a notable number of XRP tokens. The first transaction saw 200 million tokens unlocked from the escrow wallet, worth $122.63 million at the time of the transfer.

The second transaction came minutes later when a total of 300 million XRP tokens were also unclosed from escrow. This second tranche of tokens, being larger than the first, was worth $183.89 million at the time, bringing the total number of unlocked tokens to 500 million. Together, both transactions were worth over $300 million.

These unlocks have, unsurprisingly, stirred concern in the Ripple community for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that Ripple never does unlocks in the middle of the month. Rather, they do scheduled unlocks at the start of each month. So, these transactions have drawn the attention of the crypto community.

Another cause for concern is the fact that Ripple could be selling these XRP tokens. Hence, putting more tokens in circulation and adding more selling pressure to the already struggling digital asset. However, Ripple has not shown any indication of what these unlocks could be for as there have been no transfer transactions since then, just the unlock transactions.

Unlocks Can Send Price Crashing?

XRP unlocks are not new to the Ripple community, as scheduled unlocks take place every month. These unlocks see 1 billion XRP tokens unlocked from the escrow according to schedule. But most times, the majority of the unlocked tokens are sent back to escrow.

Usually, these unlocks do not negatively affect the altcoin’s price, but that’s when the unlocks are expected. This time around, the unlocks are unplanned, leading to speculation as to why Ripple would be unlocking XRP tokens outside of the unlock schedule.

So far, the XRP price seems to not be reacting to the unlock at all. It continues to trend around $0.61, with small losses of 0.91% in the last day. However, the altcoin is still seeing 4.74% gains in the last week, showing the positive upside that it saw earlier in the week.

XRP has witnessed an alarming amount of liquidations in the last 24 hours. This has no doubt caused concerns in the XRP community, considering the impact that the derivatives market has on a crypto’s price. 

$1.32 Million XRP Positions Get Liquidated 

Data from Coinglass shows that $1.32 million has been liquidated from the XRP market in the last 24 hours. Long positions account for a majority of these liquidations, with $1.04 million in long positions being wiped out during this period. This underlines the bearish sentiment plaguing the XRP ecosystem, with the bears firmly in control. 

This bearish outlook is also evident in several other key metrics in the XRP derivatives market. For instance, the total trading volume and open interest have dropped by 36.90% and 2.69%, respectively, which suggests that crypto investors are choosing to stay out of the XRP market.

Meanwhile, there has also been a decline in the options volume, further suggesting that crypto investors have reduced their bets on the the altcoin. This is, however, not surprising considering how XRP has maintained a tepid price action despite the broader crypto market enjoying significant price gains at different times. 

Despite XRP’s current market conditions, there are still those betting heavily on a bullish future trajectory for the crypto token. This includes crypto expert Zach Rector, who has stated that the altcoin will “not miss the bull run” despite its current price action. He alluded to XRP’s fundamentals as one reason for his belief. 

More recently, he mentioned that XRP will soon experience a supply shock with increased token burns on the horizon. These token burns help reduce the number of tokens in circulation and can help drive up the token’s value through scarcity. 

Time To Accumulate More Tokens

Crypto analyst Egrag Crypto recently mentioned in an X (formerly Twitter) post that it was time to accumulate more XRP. He made this statement while highlighting an ascending triangle on XRP’s monthly timeframe, which “screams bullish.” In anticipation of this bullish move, the analyst urged crypto investors to “accumulate more, and then just sit back and wait for the magic to happen.”

As to how high XRP could rise, Egrag stated that “the measured move of the Ascending Triangle could potentially reach either $17 or $27.” The analyst had also recently claimed that the altcoin would rise to $5 by July. 

At the time of writing, XRP is trading at around $0.6, up in the last 24 hours according to data from CoinMarketCap.