Ripple (XRP) price peaked at $0.56 on Feb. 15, but crypto whales looking to exploit its undervalued status could trigger more bullish action.
Between Feb. 9 and Feb. 15, all top-10 ranked crypto assets have scored double-digit price gains. Meanwhile XRP has only mustered a modest 8% upswing during that period.
How will XRP bulls react to this rare market dynamic in the coming days?
XRP is undervalued compared to top-ranked crypto assets
Between Jan. 23, and Feb. 15, the crypto sector has grown by 30% adding $450 billion in overall market capitalization. As often observed in the early-phases of a typical crypto market rally, top-ranked Layer-1 coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH),Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) have led the way with double-digit percentage gains respectively.
XRP price has also delivered a positive 8% growth performance, moving from $0.51 on Feb. 9, to a monthly peak of $0.56 on Feb. 15.
But surprisingly, when compared to its rival Layer-1 coins in the top-10 rankings, XRP price appears to be underperforming.
Price Performance of Top 10 Ranked Crypto Assets, Feb. 9 to Feb. 15 | Source: crypto.News
As seen in the chart above, standout performers, BTC, SOL, ETH and AVAX have all scored 15% gains or more, while XRP sits lowest with 7.42% gains within the 7-day timeframe. This rare market dynamic could attract investors attention to XRP in the coming days.
Crypto whales acquire 220M XRP in 5 days
Market data shows that XRP’s 8% weekly gain is by far the lowest among the top 10 ranked crypto assets. Looking beyond the price charts, on-chain metrics shows that whale investors are making strategic moves to capitalize on XRP’s undervalued status.
The Santiment supply by addresses chart below tracks real-time changes in whale wallets with a minimum balance of 100 million XRP (~$50 million). The chart shows that XRP’s largest whale cohort held a cumulative balance of 8.4 billion at the start of the week on Feb. 10.
But as depicted by the blue trendline, the whales have rapidly acquired 220 million coins in the last 5 days, bringing their balances to 6.62 billion XRP at press time on Feb. 15.
Ripple (XRP) Whale Wallet Balances vs. Price, February 2024 | Source: Santiment
With XRP currently trading at $0.55, the newly-acquired coins are worth approximately $121 million. When whales make such a large capital inflow within a short period as observed above, it’s usually a strategic position for an imminent price rally.
The timing suggests this strategic cohort of crypto whales are looking to exploit XRP’s current undervalued status, in anticipation of outsized profits when it catches up to the overall market trend.
And if retail investors also take the cue to mirror the whale’s bullish positions, XRP price could enter an accelerated price rally in the coming days.
XRP price forecast: can it reach $0.60?
Drawing inferences from the charts analyzed above, the standout performers in the top 10 crypto asset rankings have scored an average of 15% gains this week. Another 7% upswing from $0.55 – $0.60 will see XRP price catch up to that market average.
However, the Bollinger band technical indicator shows that, in the weekly timeframe, XRP faces major resistance at the $0.57 20-day SMA.
But if the bullish whales intensify their buying trends, XRP price will likely break above that initial sell-wall and rally towards $0.60 as predicted.
Ripple (XRP) Price Forecast, February 2024 | Source: TradingView
Conversely, the bears could invalidate this bullish forecast if XRP price tumbles below $0.45. But as depicted by the lower Bollinger band, the looming buy-wall at $0.49 could pose a challenge.
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