Whales prepare for price volatility in 2023 as demand for XRP soars

XRP price is down 12.8% in the past week, trading at $0.3439 at the time of writing. The largest cross-border money remittance token suffered another hit as crypto markets reacted to last week’s United States Federal Reserve decision to hike interest rates by 0.5%.

Nearly all the progress made in November from support at $0.3200 has been erased, a situation that paints a grim picture for the XRP token awaiting a ruling on the lawsuit filed against the issuing company Ripple Labs and its top executives by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Whales rapidly accumulating XRP as price sinks

Despite the drop in the price of XRP over the last week, whales have been on a spending spree stacking up XRP tokens. According to insights from Santiment, a leading on-chain analytics platform, whale and shark addresses with 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 XRP have continued to accumulate to the end of 2022.

XRP Supply Distribution

There are 1,617 addresses in that investment tier, holding 7.23% of the network's supply – the highest ever. Investors are likely scooping up XRP tokens with anticipation of a rally turning into the New Year.

Moreover, as demand increases behind the token, XRP price may eventually gain momentum for a significant rebound to $1.0000. Retail investors are on the sidelines amid fears of the downtrend continuing to $0.3000. Possibly, their interest will be renewed by XRP price, making a clear rebound above the falling trend line (dotted) resistance.

XRP/USD daily chart

For XRP to make a sustainable move to $1.000, resistance provided by all the major moving averages must come out of the way. A break and hold beyond the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) (in red) at $0.3903 would lead to a subsequent uptick above the 100-day EMA (in blue), as provided at $0.4033. Traders will confirm a long-term uptrend when XRP lifts above the 200-day EMA (in red) at $0.4531 and the upper falling trend line (continuous line).

How the SEC lawsuit may impact XRP price

Although XRP price has generally moved alongside the rest of the crypto market in 2022, it has shown tendencies to react positively and negatively to the Ripple vs. SEC case. Many crypto experts and enthusiasts believe that Ripple could topple the regulator to win the case that alleged that it breached the securities law and sold unregistered tokens.

However, the case outcome could go either way now that both parties have made their final submissions. Enthusiasm toward a Ripple victory comes after a series of minor wins by the defendants against the SEC as the case progressed.

However, with the final ruling delayed, XRP price might hang in the balance – possibly eliciting bearing sentiments. A win for Ripple will mean a win for XRP price, which could be why whales are throwing their weight behind the token.

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