XRP (XRP) pared some losses following this week’s market crash, with 8% daily gains over the last 24 hours to trade at $2.17.
The top-ten altcoin trades 12% above the 24-hour low of $1.94 as the crypto market sentiment shows signs of recovery.
XRP/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Let’s examine the key drivers behind XRP’s rebound today.
SEC’s potential dismissal of Ripple case
One of the most significant catalysts fueling XRP’s price rise is renewed optimism about the possible end of Ripple’s long-standing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What you should know:
The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, alleging that Ripple sold XRP as an unregistered security.
This lawsuit has cast a shadow over XRP for years, likey suppressing price and adoption.
Over the past week, the new SEC administration has scaled down its enforcement actions against crypto companies.
The agency closed legal cases against Coinsase, Consensys, Robinhood, Uniswap, and Gemini.
This has sparked rumors and speculation that the SEC might dismiss its case against Ripple.
If not, reaching a favorable settlement under new leadership or shifting regulatory priorities may still be possible.
While there is no official communication from the SEC, the mere possibility of a resolution has ignited bullish sentiment.
Related: XRP price can rise 50% to $3 if key support level holds — Analysts
XRP whales accumulate on the dips
Additionally, there’s aggressive accumulation by XRP whales following the altcoin’s 15% crash over the last seven days.
Key points to note:
Whales are entities with large XRP holdings capable of influencing the market.
Onchain data often reveals these players scooping up XRP during price dips, treating pullbacks as buying opportunities.
Recent weeks are no different, with onchain data showing increased activity in wallets with substantial XRP amounts.
The chart below shows that addresses with 1 million-10 million XRP and 10 million-100 million XRP have increased their holdings sharply since Feb. 24.
Over the last week, these addresses have increased their collective holdings by 440 million XRP, worth nearly $1 billion.
Total addresses holding between 1M and 100M XRP. Source: Santiment
XRP price eyes a V-shaped recovery
XRP’s price action has been nurturing a V-shaped recovery chart pattern on the four-hour chart since Feb. 25, as shown below.
A V-shaped recovery is a bullish pattern formed when an asset experiences a sharp price increase after a steep decline.
It is completed when the price moves up to the resistance at the top of the V formation, also known as the neckline.
XRP appears to be on a similar trajectory and now trades below a key supply congestion zone between $2.35 and $2.58, where the 50-period, 100-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMAs) are currently sitting.
This suggests that bulls need to push XRP above this area in order to increase the chances of the price rising to the neckline at $2.74 to complete the V-pattern.
Higher than that, the next logical move would be the monthly high of $2.84 reached on Feb. 14.
This would represent a 30% uptick from the current price.
XRP/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Meanwhile, analyst Dark Defender said XRP/USD had completed the corrective wave after it “reached the lowest Fibonacci level for a 4th Wave” on the monthly time frame.
The analyst believes XRP is on track to continue the pattern toward as high as $8, with or without any news from the SEC.
Source: Dark Defender
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
