XRP token has been leading the charge among large-cap altcoins, showing impressive gains in midweek trading. Notably, wallets belonging to ‘shark’ and ‘whale’ XRP holders have surged over the past five weeks.
On July 31st, Ripple’s [XRP] price soared nearly 10%, reaching a high of $0.657, even as most altcoins were trending downward. This isolated price spike propelled the payments-focused token to its highest level since March 25th, dethroning USD Coin to claim the sixth spot in market capitalization.
SEC’s Amendment Sparks XRP Rally
The substantial midweek boost followed an amendment by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its complaint against Binance and its US subsidiaries. Court documents dated July 30th revealed that the SEC no longer intends to classify tokens like SOL and MATIC as securities, a significant shift from its June 2023 stance, which had labeled up to 10 tokens, including ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI, as unregistered securities.
The SEC has until the end of August to formalize these amendments, delaying any immediate courtroom rulings on the highlighted tokens. Ripple executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse, took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the commission for its inconsistent interpretation and enforcement of digital asset regulations. Ripple’s chief legal officer echoed these concerns on the social platform.
XRP’s Appeal to Deep-Pocketed Investors
Large entities investing in crypto have been aggressively accumulating XRP throughout the year. Recent weeks have seen a notable increase in whale and shark activity. According to crypto analytics platform Santiment, the number of wallets holding at least 10,000 XRP reached a six-month high as of July 30th.
XRP’s daily trading volume has also surged by 180% in the last 24 hours, reaching $3.028 billion at press time, indicating heightened market activity.
Technical Analysis: XRP/USD
Over the past 30 days, XRP has led large-cap altcoins in gains, rising by 36%. From a technical perspective, a retest of this year’s high of $0.75 could be on the horizon if bulls can reclaim the short-term target of $0.66 in the coming weeks.
Immediate bearish momentum has not been strong enough to trigger a sell signal. The MACD line, which came close to crossing under the signal line, avoided the crossover, suggesting that upward momentum has regained strength. This divergence indicates that the asset’s price might continue to rise, reinforcing the bullish trend.
On a larger timeframe, XRP/USD is trading within a pennant pattern, with a potential breakout that could see the price test the resistance at $0.90.
Market Sentiment and Future Projections
At press time, XRP was consolidating above the critical psychological level of $0.60. However, there is a possibility that XRP/USD could be pushed back to the support level at $0.56 in the coming weeks. Speculators should be cautious of the 1 billion XRP token unlock scheduled for next month, which could exert selling pressure.
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