Summary
⚈ Price climbed to $2.54 amid legal optimism and $7B market cap growth.
⚈ Whale activity and rising exchange reserves pose short-term sell-off risks.
XRP futures open interest has increased from $2.42 billion to $3.42 billion over the course of the past week.
This 41.6% surge coincides with a steady rise in overall XRP derivatives open interest, which is near 1-month highs. Moreover, as the increase has coincided with a price rally from $2.14 to $2.48, the development signals growing bullish directional conviction, as highlighted by crypto analytics platform Glassnode in a May 13 X post.
XRP price analysis
XRP’s rally has extended beyond the timeframe highlighted by the analytics platform. By press time on May 13, the cryptocurrency was trading at $2.54, having marked a 3.15% gain on the daily chart. Year-to-date (YTD) gains currently stand at 22.38%. The token added nearly $7 billion to its market capitalization since the start of the week, defying a cryptocurrency market-wide pullback.
On May 8, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a settlement letter, marking a huge milestone in the longstanding Ripple v. SEC case. While the legal minutiae will still take a while to be fully resolved, XRP has added nearly $100 billion to its market cap since the legal tide began turning in Ripple Labs’ favor, indicating a strong degree of institutional interest.
With that being said, not all of the signals currently at play are positive. XRP exchange reserves are near a 1-month high — which often coincides with increased selling pressure. Whales have also transferred large amounts of the token to exchanges, and are potentially preparing to dump large holdings.
However, none of the recent bearish developments has proven enough to overturn or even slow down XRP’s bull run.
Provided that the current rally lasts, or, at worst, establishes new support zones at higher levels, an overall uptrend could be sustained in the longer term, particularly as the SEC’s decision regarding spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which could ignite another move to the upside, is due in June.
Featured image from Shutterstock
