XRP (XRP) has surged by nearly 24% in the past 7 days, outpacing all other tokens in the top 5, as cryptos continue to rally following the Fed’s widely expected rate hike.
This altcoin has now booked gains in 6 out of the last 7 sessions after a strong bounce off a key support area at $1.32.
Last week’s rate hike drove higher volumes to the crypto market, as the Federal Reserve provided more clarity regarding how they plan to deal with inflation.
With a stronger foothold and less uncertainty, we are seeing a strong pickup in crypto valuations, primarily coming from the DeFi space — a segment that Ripple is actively developing.
Launch of Lending Protocol Could Further Increase XRP’s Use Cases
Validators within the XRP Ledger are currently voting on two proposals that would pave the way for the launch of a lending protocol that would use XRP as collateral and Ripple USD (RLUSD) as a settlement asset.
This could create another use case for this blockchain, and it could be considered another key piece of the puzzle in Ripple’s effort to grow its ecosystem and accomplish its mission of creating an entire suite of treasury solutions for global enterprises.
Paired with increased demand for RLUSD, whose market cap surpassed $2.4 billion recently, and ongoing investments in further growing its prime brokerage business, Ripple could emerge as a strong player in the DeFi space in the coming years.
Ripple Price Forecast
Every new Ripple analysis as it publishes, today's technical signal and key levels, live price — on one page.
See all Ripple forecastsNet Inflows to ETFs Jump While On-Chain Data Shows Ongoing Whale Accumulation
Meanwhile, yesterday’s strong rally drove $20 million to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to XRP. These have been the highest daily inflows since the late August rally, indicating that market participants could be positioning for the next leg up.
Short liquidations have been significant since September 13, exceeding $67 million. This indicates an ongoing short squeeze that could end up propelling XRP to our nearest target of $1.80.
In addition, on-chain data indicates that whales have been piling into the token, as the number of transactions exceeding $100,000 surged to the highest level since August as well. In addition, the number of newly created wallets rose as well, indicating bullish positioning.
Turning to the daily chart, we can see that the selling pressure has increased after XRP rose above $1.50, which has been our key resistance to watch for a while to confirm the token’s bull flag pattern breakout.
We could expect a retreat to $1.43 or so after such a strong rally, but we believe that this is just a temporary setback as the stage looks set for a strong move to $1.80 first, and then to $2.10 if bullish momentum accelerates.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) just crossed above the signal line, indicating that buyers remain in control of the price action. As long as the oscillator stays above 50, this rally should keep going after a healthy pullback.
