XRP price capped at $0.55 despite retail holdings nearing all-time highs

• Ripple wallets holding up to one million XRP are close to their all-time highs on Wednesday. 
• Legal expert Fred Rispoli expresses concerns about a second round of the legal battle between Ripple and the SEC. 
• XRP remains range bound below $0.55 on Wednesday. 

Ripple price (XRP) failed to break resistance at $0.55 early Wednesday as traders continue to digest Ripple’s recent response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) allegations of illegally selling XRP as a security. 

About the legal battle, cryptocurrency industry attorney Fred Rispoli said a second round of litigation between Ripple and the SEC is likely. Rispoli added that the payment-remittance firm is in a great position to win the lawsuit, but also that there are “ominous signs.”

Daily digest market movers: Ripple on-chain metrics show signs of investor confidence

• The number of wallets holding between 1 and 1 million XRP tokens is nearing all-time highs, according to on-chain intelligence tracker Santiment data. 

XRP wallets holding between 1 and 1 million tokens 

• Addresses holding small volumes of an asset are typically considered retail wallets. As retail investors’ XRP holdings are near all-time highs, it signals increasing confidence among market participants. 
• Despite the ongoing legal battle with the SEC and regulatory hurdles faced by Ripple in the US, retail traders have increased their holdings consistently in 2024. 
• Attorney Fred Rispoli, a legal expert in the crypto community, shared his take on Ripple’s response filed on April 22. Rispoli states that the parties are likely posturing for a second round of litigation as Ripple said in its filing that “Ripple tells Court if SEC wants to sue on the new contracts, it needs to bring a new enforcement action (p16).”

Technical analysis: XRP stuck below $0.55, likely to test resistance

Ripple’s recent uptrend has lost momentum after its price failed on Monday to break above $0.57, a level that aligns with the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA). XRP price target is the psychologically important level of $0.60, but before it has to overcome key resistance levels at $0.5574 and $0.5951. These two levels represent the 61.8% and 78.6% Fibonacci retracement of XRP decline from April 9 top of $0.6431 to April 13 low of $0.4188.

XRP price could tackle these resistances on its path to $0.60 and target the April 9 top of $0.6431 thereafter. 

The green bars above the neutral line on the Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence (MACD) indicator show underlying positive momentum in XRP price uptrend. The MACD line crossed over the signal line on Monday. This crossover is typically considered a bullish sign for the asset’s price. 

XRP/USDT 1-day chart 

A daily candlestick close below $0.5310, the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the decline from the April 9 top to April 13 low, could invalidate the bullish thesis. Further down, XRP could find support at the April 13 low of $0.4188. 

 

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