The Ripple price has dropped in the past three straight days as investors prepare for what will be an important year for the coin. XRP is trading at $0.7600, which is about 43% below the highest level in November and 62% below the highest level in 2021.
XRP 2021 review
2021 was a mixed year for the Ripple price. Initially, the coin jumped by about 600% from its lowest level in January to the highest level in May. This upswing happened as Bitcoin and most altcoins surged higher. Between May and December, the coin declined by about 60%.
The biggest theme in 2021 was the SEC vs Ripple case that started in December 2020. The SEC alleged that Ripple Labs and its top executives raised $1 billion from the public without following the due process. The defendants denied the claims and hired a high-powered team of lawyers to fight the SEC.
Behind the scenes, Ripple Labs continued to grow its ecosystem even after its partnership with MoneyGram crumbled. For example, it made deals with companies like Tranglo and SBI Holdings. SBI is one of the biggest banks in Japan.
At the same time, Ripple reported that the number of transactions using its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) continued to rise during the year.
2022 will be an important year for Ripple and XRP price for two main reasons. First, the SEC vs Ripple case is expected to conclude in the first half of the year. If Ripple wins, we will likely see more demand for the XRP tokens as more exchanges restart offering the coin.
Ripple Labs has also hinted that it will file to become a publicly-traded company once the SEC baggage eases. So, this will be a key thing to watch.
It will also be an important year for XRP and other cryptocurrencies because the Fed has hinted that it will start hiking interest rates this year. This explains why the Ripple price has crashed in the past few weeks.
Ripple price prediction
The daily chart shows that the XRP price formed a double-top pattern at $1.3357 between September and November last year. The chin of this pattern was at 0.87 level. It then formed a break and retest pattern in December. This pattern is usually a bearish sign.
Also, it has moved below the 25-day and 50-day moving averages (MA) while oscillators like the RSI and MACD have tilted lower. Therefore, the path of the least resistance for the Ripple price is to the downside for the first part of 2022.
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