The XRP price remained on edge on Wednesday even as Bitcoin retested its all-time high in the overnight session. Ripple, the seventh-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, was trading at $0.5255, a few points higher than this week’s low of $0.4900.
Ripple has dropped in 2024
XRP’s price action is notable because it has continued to underperform other big coins like Ethereum and Bitcoin. It has dropped by 16% this year, while Bitcoin retested the all-time high of $73,800.
Its underperformance continued this month after Chris Larsen, a co-founder, announced that he was donating to Kamala Harris.
Harris is seen as being a more anti-crypto candidate than Donald Trump. For one, she is said to be considering appointing Gary Gensler as the next Treasury Secretary. Harris will also have the ears of popular crypto critics like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who want more regulations.
Therefore, many crypto traders who favor Trump have sold their XRP tokens in protest, which explains why the token has continued to underperform.
Ripple faces more fundamental issues. First, the company has struggled to sign up more banks to use its RippleNet and On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) features to move money internationally.
Read more: XRP Price Prediction as Ripple Forms a Rare Death Cross
Instead, some big banks like JPMorgan and ANZ have embraced tokenization features, and analysts believe that stablecoins will play a big role in the future. Indeed, sanctioned countries like Russia and Iran have found stablecoins easier to move money with.
Second, Ripple’s XRP Ledger network has not attracted any developers, with data showing that it has a total value locked (TVL) of just $14 million. Developers have instead opted for other chains like Base Blockchain, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Sui.
Third, it is unclear whether Ripple’s upcoming stablecoin will gain any market share in the industry. Tether has a market cap of over $120 billion, while USD Coin, Dai, Athena USDe, and First Digital have over $34 billion, $4.9 billion, $2.69 billion, and $2.25 billion, respectively. It will be hard for RLUSD to gain market share.
XRP price analysis
Ripple chart by TradingView
The weekly chart shows that the XRP token has remained in a tight range in the past few months. It has formed a symmetrical triangle pattern, which is shown in yellow. This pattern is now nearing a confluence level, pointing to big moves ahead.
Ripple and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) have formed symmetrical triangle patterns that are nearing the confluence level. The MACD indicator has moved slightly below the zero line.
Therefore, Ripple’s price will remain in a tight range in the coming weeks. A bullish breakout will be confirmed if the price moves above the key resistance point at $0.6640, its highest level in September. Such a move will point to more gains to $0.9250, about 75% above the current level.
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