What Are Ripple’s (XRP) Chances to Chart a New ATH This Year?

TL;DR

• Ripple’s XRP has surged 40% in two weeks, now trading above $0.60, with analysts predicting further gains up to $8 or more.
• Key metrics like daily transactions and open interest are up, indicating strong market participation, though some traders remain skeptical about a major rally.

Where’s XRP Headed?

Ripple’s XRP has been on a tear as of late, with its price surging by 40% in the past two weeks. The last few days were quite turbulent for the asset which briefly plunged below $0.55 but later headed north again. Currently, it trades above the $0.60 mark while numerous industry participants expect much more impressive gains in the near future.

X user Armando Pantoja claimed that investors had accumulated approximately 250 million XRP tokens since the start of June, envisioning a rise to as high as $8. He argued that surpassing the major resistance level of $0.70- $0.75 is the first obstacle in the long battle toward a potential new all-time high, even though that seems a bit far-fetched now.

JAVON MARKS was much more optimistic, believing that XRP could be “right on the brink of a massive bullish breakout.” The analyst thinks that “continued market strength” might be followed by a whopping rally toward the ridiculous mark of $150. 

It is worth noting that such a valuation would require XRP’s market capitalization to explode to approximately $15 trillion. This seems quite unrealistic considering the fact that the total market cap of the entire crypto sector currently stands at around $2.5 trillion.

On the other hand, some traders cast doubts on XRP’s potential to experience a substantial price rally. Cyclop – an X user with over half a million followers – remarked that those who have invested $10,000 in the asset in September 2018 would still be sitting at the same amount nowadays. The analyst further placed XRP among the ten cryptocurrencies investors should avoid.

“XRP is designed for fast and cheap international money transfers. But in essence, it is an unnecessary fork of BTC with overly inflated valuation,” the trader maintained.

What Are Metrics Suggesting?

Important indicators related to Ripple’s native token have headed north lately, indicating a high level of market participation and solid investor interest. Such an example is the number of executed transactions on a daily scale which reached almost 5 million on July 19. 

For its part, the XRP open interest recently spiked to a three-month high of over $600 million. The metric refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as futures and options, that have not been settled. Its rise is usually a precursor of a violent move in any direction.