XRP price collapses as whale transactions break last remaining support
XRP suffered a critical setback on Thursday amidst a widespread downturn in the cryptocurrency market. The token plummeted to $0.4400, marking its lowest point since April and a significant 41% decline from its peak earlier this month.
Ripple, a major player in the crypto sphere, is grappling with substantial challenges, contributing to the recent drop in its token’s value. On-chain metrics indicate a stagnating network. According to XRP Scan, the number of active sender addresses has dwindled from 50,000 in January to 5,850 presently. Moreover, transaction volumes have plummeted from a high of 6.8 million in January to slightly over 1 million, underscoring a notable decline.
Further data reveals a sharp decrease in inter-account payments, dropping from nearly 6 million in December to 1.1 million. This weakening activity coincides with growing investor apprehension over Ripple’s positioning within the financial services sector. Ripple Labs originally aimed to expedite cross-border transactions for banks and similar entities, but newer alternatives like stablecoins, exemplified by ANZ Bank’s use of Chainlink’s CCIP for transferring issued stablecoins, have emerged as preferred choices.
Compounding Ripple’s woes, major holders of XRP, known as whales, have been offloading the token. Whale Alert data indicates significant movements, with one whale transferring $15 million worth of tokens to Bitso and another moving $14.8 million to Bitstap on Wednesday alone. In total, whale sell-offs have amounted to $60 million worth of XRP tokens this week.
Technically, Ripple faces vulnerabilities as well. The token formed a double-top pattern at $0.7485, its peak in November and March of the following year, typically a bearish indicator in technical analysis. XRP breached the neckline of this pattern at $0.4872 and confirmed a death cross on April 20th, where the 200-day and 50-day moving averages intersected unfavorably.
The situation worsened on Thursday when XRP fell below its crucial support level of $0.4557, which it had struggled to maintain since May. This breach suggests a prevailing bearish sentiment, potentially driving the XRP price further downward.
