XRP has been performing better than Bitcoin in the recent market-wide rally, with traders hoping for a positive outcome for Ripple’s multi-year legal battle with the SEC. A ruling is expected in April. XRP has increased by 40% in the past two weeks.
XRP’s Retail-Driven Rally
South Korean exchanges have seen high volumes of XRP trading, surpassing that of Bitcoin and Ethereum. XRP’s trading volumes exceeded $2 billion last week, the highest level since September 2022. The XRP perpetual futures open interest increased to $471 million, up from $230 million, with funding rates showing that traders were mostly taking long positions. However, market orders of over 200k XRP tokens indicated that whales have sold into the price rally, meaning the latest rally in XRP appears to be retail-driven.
“Looking at buy and sell transactions on the two largest Korean exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, market sell orders overwhelmingly outpace market buys for orders over 200k XRP (~$95k). In contrast, the buy/sell ratio was much more balanced for smaller orders.”
Ripple Vs. SEC
The SEC’s long-running case against Ripple has been filled with twists and turns. The narrative that Ripple controls XRP’s price has been argued not just in court but also on social media. Crypto attorney Bill Morgan recently stated that the securities watchdog failed to prove that Ripple’s actions to support XRP’s price actually worked. XRP’s price has been rising as optimism grows for a potential win for Ripple. In other news, Ripple has partnered with the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) for the launch of the country’s CBDC.
