Ripple price analysis: XRP/USD range-bound after a short-lived recovery

Ripple's XRP hit the recent low at $0.2834 on July 16. The recovery that followed took the price of the third-largest coin marginally above $0.3400, however, the upside proved to be unsustainable. The downside correction took the price towards the critical $0.3000 where new buyers popped in and helped to initiate a recovery. At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $0.3182, up 4% on a day-on-day basis and mostly unchanged since the beginning of Thursday.  

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Ripple's technical picture

On the intraday charts, XRP/USD bulls have to take the price above $0.3200-$0.3220 area to create an additional upside momentum. This resistance zone includes the highest level of the previous 4-hour period and the upper line of the 1-hour Bollinger Band. Once it is out of the way, the upside may be extended towards psychological $0.3300 strengthened by SMA100 (Simple Moving Average) and the upper line of 4-hour Bollinger Band. This resistance is followed by $0.3400. 

On the downside, the initial support comes at $0.3150 (the lower line of 4-hour Bollinger Band, intraday low), followed psychological $0.31. This area creates a strong barrier that is likely to stop the bears for the time being; however, a sustainable move lower will trigger more sell-off towards $0.3000 with the lower line of 4-hour Bollinger Band located on approach. 

Considering that the short-term RSI (the Relative Strength Index)stays flat in the neutral position, we may suggest that the coin will stay a consolidation phase in the nearest trading hours.

XRP/USD, 4-hour chart