Ripple Price Analysis: XRP staring at the abyss as exchanges continue delisting token

Ripple's XRP is a whipping boy of the cryptocurrency industry. The digital asset lost nearly half of its value in less than a week amid panic caused by SEC's lawsuit against the San-Francisco-based fintech startup.

At the time of writing, XR is changing hands at $0.29, down over 6% on a day-to-day basis. The asset slipped to fourth place in the global cryptocurrency market rating with the current market capitalization of $13.2 billion and an average daily trading volume of $9.5 billion.

Cryptocurrency exchanges continue delisting XRP

As FXStreet previously reported, several cryptocurrency exchanges delisted or suspended XRP trading, citing concerns about Ripple's legal issues. If the court decides that XRP is a security, the trading platforms may be accused of making it available for retail investors. 

Bistamp is the latest exchange that introduced limitations on XRP trading. The US-based customers will not be allowed to trade or deposit XRP as of January 2021, the company announced on Twitter.

The Bistamp's decision halted XRP's upside correction and threw the price back below $0.30.

XRP is bearish as on as it stays below $0.45

From the technical point of view, XRP has settled at the daily EMA200. This critical barrier has been limiting XRP's sell-off since June 2020. If it is broken, the sell-off may gain traction with the next focus on the former channel support at $0.21. The price touched this area on December 23 but managed to recover amid strong profit-taking activity. 

XRP, daily chart

Meanwhile, on the upside, the local recovery is created by a psychological $0.30. However, a sustainable move above $0.32 is needed to mitigate the initial bearish pressure and allow for a rally towards $0.035 (daily EMA100) and $0.45. The latter is created by the broken channel support and the daily EMA50. A move above this barrier will invalidate the bearish scenario and bring XRP in line with the cryptocurrency market recovery.