|

XRP holders shed altcoin holdings at a loss, Ripple struggles to tackle resistance at $0.55

  • Ripple holders shed their XRP holdings and took $20 million in profits since May 18. 
  • XRP social dominance is nearly at the same level, at 1.46%. 
  • XRP sustained above $0.52 on Tuesday but is down 1% on the day. 

Ripple (XRP) holders have consistently realized losses on their XRP holdings on several occasions between May 18 and 28, as seen on the crypto intelligence tracker Santiment. The altcoin’s social dominance remains nearly unchanged, signaling XRP’s relevance among market participants. 

XRP holders await further developments in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vs. Ripple lawsuit. 

Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple holders take losses to the tune of $20 million

  • The on-chain metric Network Realized Profit/Loss, used to identify the net profit/loss realized by holders of an asset on a given day, shows that XRP holders realized nearly $20 million in losses in the past ten days. 
  • Realization of losses on their XRP holdings, to the tune of $20 million, could amount to capitulation. This would mean the altcoin’s price could recover and break past consolidation. XRP price could resume its rally as holders continue to take losses. 
XRP

XRP price and Network Realized Profit/Loss 

  • Social dominance, a metric used to identify XRP’s share among discussions on crypto, has been nearly unchanged in the past ten days. The metric reads 1.46% on May 19 and 1.51% on May 28 at the time of writing. 
XRP social dominance

XRP price and social dominance 

Ripple holders await ruling in the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit. The legal battle has dragged on since 2020, with the regulator dropping charges against executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, while asking for $2 billion in fines for unregistered securities sale. 

Technical analysis: XRP eyes nearly 7% gains

Ripple is in an uptrend that started on April 18. Since then the altcoin has formed higher highs and higher lows consistently. XRP is attempting to flip the $0.5310 resistance level to support. This level is important since it marks the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the decline from the April 9 peak of $0.6431 to the April 13 low of $0.4188. 

In its uptrend, XRP could extend gains by nearly 7% and tag $0.5703, the high on the May 6 and April 22 candlestick on the XRP/USDT 1-day chart. 

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator with its green histogram bars above the neutral line, supports gains in XRP. It implies there is an underlying positive momentum. 

The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) reads 50.23, above the neutral level, suggesting bullish momentum in the altcoin. 

XRP

XRP/USDT 1-day chart 

In the event of a correction, XRP could sweep liquidity at the May 23 low of $0.5027 and find support at $0.4866, a level that has acted as support for over a month. 

SEC vs Ripple lawsuit FAQs

It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14: For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security. For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.

The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token. While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and will need to keep litigating over the around $729 million it received under written contracts.

The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at. Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say. Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales are likely to persist.

The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation. While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.

The court decision is a partial summary judgment. The ruling can be appealed once a final judgment is issued or if the judge allows it before then. The case is in a pretrial phase, in which both Ripple and the SEC still have the chance to settle.

Author

Ekta Mourya

Ekta Mourya

FXStreet

Ekta Mourya has extensive experience in fundamental and on-chain analysis, particularly focused on impact of macroeconomics and central bank policies on cryptocurrencies.

More from Ekta Mourya
Share:

Editor's Picks

XRP and XLM outlook: Mild recovery attempts emerge amid mixed market signals

Ripple and Stellar show mild signs of recovery on Thursday after extending losses earlier this week. XRP is holding above the $1.10 level as bearish momentum begins to fade, while XLM has bounced modestly from a key support zone.

Crypto Overview: Bitcoin consolidates above $60,000  – CRV, WLFI, XMR lead gains

The broader cryptocurrency market maintains risk-off sentiment as Bitcoin lingers above $62,000. The mild recovery in BTC fails to lift the Fear and Greed Index, which at 15 continues to signal extreme fear among investors. Still certain altcoins, Curve DAO, World Liberty Financial, and Monero, have emerged as top performers over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin faces further downside risk amid growing short-term holder losses, weak ETF demand

Bitcoin's recent decline toward the $60,000 level has pushed the market further into bearish territory, with new investors suffering huge unrealized losses, according to a Glassnode report on Wednesday. The firm noted that Bitcoin's earlier May rally now appears increasingly as a "bear bounce".

CFTC proposes framework to review terrorism, war, assassination-related contracts on prediction markets
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday proposed amendments to Regulation 40.11, seeking to establish a formal framework for reviewing prediction market contracts. The proposed framework targets contracts linked to terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, or conduct that is unlawful under federal or state law.
Bitcoin: After the bloodbath, everyone looks at $60,000
Bitcoin (BTC) hovers above $62,000 at the time of writing on Friday, weighed down by growing risk-off sentiment due to persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and sticky macroeconomic uncertainty. The institutional sell-off continued to wreak havoc on capital flows, with spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) recording billions in outflows.