XRP tests $0.50 resistance after Ripple CLO says pretrial conference with SEC did not take place

Ripple (XRP) is trading range-bound below $0.50 on Wednesday as it struggles to break this important resistance level for three consecutive days. While XRP holders speculated about the possibility of a settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple, the payment remittance firm’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Stuart Alderoty said that the pretrial conference, one of the last chances to reach an agreement between both parties before the formal trial phase begins, did not take place on Tuesday as previously expected. 

Daily digest market movers: Ripple, SEC did not have a pretrial conference

• The SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit rages on with no end in sight. On Tuesday, CLO Stuart Alderoty said in a tweet on X that there was no pretrial conference between the two parties since the regulator dropped its charges against executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. 

• The news of the pretrial conference had XRP holders anticipating a settlement between the SEC and Ripple. This possibility looks unlikely as the payment remittance firm prepares to file its response to the regulator’s request for penalties by April 22. 
• On March 25, Alderoty said that the SEC requested the judge to impose $2 billion in fines and penalties on Ripple. The CLO says that Ripple expects the court to approach the remedies phase fairly. 

• The 60 days of XRPLedger hackathon ended early on Wednesday, with 55 projects launched on the Ledger’s EVM Sidechain, $20,000 in prize money and over 250 developers. 

• The lawsuit developments and updates in the XRP Ledger ecosystem are likely the two catalysts influencing the price of XRP, Ripple’s native token. 

Technical analysis: XRP stuck below $0.50 for third day in a row

XRP price is battling resistance at $0.50, which remains sticky for the altcoin, for the third day in a row this week. The $0.50 level holds significance for XRP since it has acted as a major support level since July 13. While the altcoin suffered breaks below this level for brief periods since July, $0.50 has remained a steady support at large. 

On April 17, XRP price retested $0.50 resistance, attempting to break past this level. The altcoin has failed to close above $0.50 since Monday. 

The Relative Strength Index (RSI), a momentum indicator that measures the magnitude of recent price moves, climbed from 28.29 (below 30, meaning oversold zone) on Saturday to 33.84 on Wednesday. The RSI is out of the oversold zone but remains well below the 50 mid-level, signaling that XRP’s climb from April 13 low of $0.4188 to $0.4983 on Wednesday lacks significant positive momentum. 

The Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator’s red histogram bars below the zero line also suggest negative momentum persists. XRP price could remain stuck below $0.50 until a daily candlestick close above this level occurs. 

XRP/USDT 1-day chart 

A daily candlestick close above $0.50 could send XRP price to its next resistances at $0.5310 and $0.6431, the 50% and 100% Fibonacci retracement levels of the decline from April 9 top of $0.6431 to April 13 bottom of $0.4188. This could invalidate the bearish thesis and support a recovery in the altcoin.