XRP price slides despite rising institutional interest

XRP loses ground on Friday, ending a week in which Ripple’s token has registered gains as the market mood was broadly optimistic. Still, XRP’s performance lags behind the double-digit increases for Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) as uncertainty regarding the outcome of Ripple’s lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) weighs.  

Also read: Pro Ripple attorney John Deaton finds legal provision that could have avoided SEC lawsuit

XRP gains new friends

XRP price traded  at $0.4922 at the time of writing,  a 3.5% decline in the last 24 hours. Over a week, Ripple’s token is up around 3%.  Even though the recovery isn’t substantial, the altcoin is potentially gearing up for a run-up towards the 2023 high closing price of $0.54 reached at the end of March, provided it continues to receive support from its newfound allies.

This week the crypto market noted a rise in interest from institutional investors and financial giants like BlackRock, WisdomTree and Invesco, with their recent spot Bitcoin ETF filings. Despite still recording outflows, XRP stood out as one of the most preferred assets, racking up inflows worth $1.1 million against the rest of the digital assets as of June 16. 

Institutional interest in digital assets

If this interest persists during the week ending June 23, the Ripple token might have the key to charting fresh gains in its hand. As is, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) are closing in on indicating bullish signals. 

Once RSI tests the neutral line as support and MACD notes a bullish crossover with the MACD line (blue) moving over the signal line (red), bullish momentum could begin.

XRP/USD one day chart

Since retail investors' interest is waning at the moment, this is the only hope left for the XRP price to register increases in profits. The social appeal of the altcoin is already at a monthly low after peaking around June 8.

XRP price broke out of its two-month long downtrend. The altcoin rallied past the key psychological level of $0.50 and hit a peak of $0.5276 on Thursday. The next target is XRP’s local high of $0.5658. At the time of writing, the altcoin is above its three long term Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), 10, 50 and 200-day at $0.4967, $0.4946 and $0.4921. 

XRP/USDT one day price chart on Binance

The three EMAs are likely to act as support for the altcoin in the event of a decline in its price. 

XRP’s social dominance peaked at 4.87% on June 1, but fell to  0.99% since then. This 4.87% here represents the entire social interest in the altcoin for every 100 queries regarding crypto, on different platforms. The metric is used to assess the relevance of the altcoin in the crypto community, showing  declining interest among market participants.

Social dominance XRP

The only way this interest could be revived is if the SEC lawsuit against Ripple reaches its conclusion soon and is in favor of the latter. That would trigger a wave of bullishness in retail investors, pulling the XRP price back up.