What’s Taking XRP So Long To Break $3.5?

Key Insights

• XRP has been stalling for weeks, under the $3.5 zone with no breakout in sight.
• The cryptocurrency has formed a symmetric triangle on the 4-hour chart, which is a neutral formation.
• However, the hourly chart shows a bull flag formation, which is historically a highly bullish pattern.
• XRP’s breakout towards the $5 zone is only a matter of time.
• Asides from the bullish developments, Ripple has been making major recently, in and outside the US.

XRP has been one of the most talked about cryptocurrencies on the market, after its rise around the time of the Trump inauguration.

The cryptocurrency has, however, been under some serious selling pressure and investors want to know:

What’s taking this cryptocurrency so long to break above its previous highs?

XRP’s Symmetrical Triangle Breakdown

XRP has been up by around 1% over the last 24 hours, with a current price of around $3.1.

The cryptocurrency has been through a rough patch with its bears in the last week, but the bulls have managed to bring the decline down to a -0.1% loss over the last seven days.

According to the charts, XRP has formed a minor symmetric triangle on the 4-hour chart, which historically leads to either a bearish or bullish breakout.

In particular, symmetric triangles are neutral until confirmed bullish/bearish.

The cryptocurrency is trading near the upper trendline of this triangle, and could be looking at a breakout to the upside soon.

More importantly, the 50-period EMA is serving as a source of dynamic support around the $3 zone, with a worst-case scenario near the bottom of the triangle around $2.50.

Can XRP Defy the Bears?

Despite the risks of an XRP downturn, zooming further down into the hourly chart shows that XRP is in yet another bullish formation:

A bull flag pattern.

This setup typically shows up when prices consolidate downwards after surging strongly towards the upside.

They often lead to a continuation of the initial uptrend and could see XRP set for massive bullish action soon.

XRP initially rallied from $2.27 to $3.40 between 10 and 16 January, thereby forming a descending parallel channel.

If the price of the cryptocurrency can hold steady for long enough around the $3 zone, XRP could be set to explode upwards to anywhere between $4.6 and $5.

With all of the above being said, XRP’s move towards (and above $3.5) is inevitable—a matter of “when”, not “if”.

Regulatory Developments And Ripple’s Growing Footprint

XRP has a lot more than technical indicators going for it.

The cryptocurrency’s future is also influenced by regulatory progress, with Ripple making some of the biggest moves In the space.

Only recently, Ripple secured key money transmitter licenses (MTLs) in New York and Texas—two of the most infamous states for regulatory harshness.

The company has therefore expanded its legal standing in the US.

More than this, XRP also has possible spot ETF approvals on the horizon, alongside growing institutional adoption.

Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse has been one of the biggest proponents of integrating XRP into the digital asset ecosystem, including the recent partnership with Ondo Finance for tokenization.

All of the above paint a highly bullish picture for XRP, and the $5 high may not even be the limit for this cryptocurrency.