Speculation of Ripple, SEC settling by November 9 intensify as Judge Torres issues ultimatum

• Judge Torres responded to the SEC’s letter, which states the regulator intends to meet and confer a briefing schedule with Ripple.
• She also noted the court will set a schedule with regard to remedies if both parties fail to agree.
• XRP price has seen a 15% increase in the past week, bolstered by the recent Bitcoin rally.

The conclusion to Ripple and the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) legal tiff is likely to take place by the second week of November. Such is the speculation that is now taking shape, given Judge Analisa Torres’ recent statement.

Ripple and SEC need to agree

The SEC sent Judge Torres a letter on October 19, in which it requested time until November 9 for both the regulator and Ripple to agree on a briefing schedule with regard to remedies. Judge Torres responded to this letter on Tuesday, granting both parties the requested time.

However, in addition to the approval, Judge Torres also gave the SEC an ultimatum. In the case that both parties fail to propose a briefing schedule jointly, Torres said, the court will be setting the schedule. The deadline for the same is November 9, as requested by the regulatory body.

Since this meeting is to establish a path toward solving their differences, crypto enthusiasts are eyeing this date as a potential due date for the settlement of the lawsuit that began in December 2020. SEC charged Ripple with violating securities laws by offering XRP three years ago and the crypto company fought it out until July this year when the court ruled in favor of Ripple. It attained a partial victory and the SEC’s request for appealing the decision was also denied soon after.

Thus, Ripple enthusiasts are hinging their bullishness with this date, which is also visible on-chain.With the date inching closer, the Open Interest, i.e., the total number of outstanding Ripple futures or options contracts in the market, has been increasing. From an eight-month low of $374 million at the beginning of September, the Open Interest has risen to $555 million, marking a 48.4% increase.

Ripple Open Interest

XRP price at a crucial level

XRP price is presently at an important level as the altcoin will need to sustain the bullishness it has acquired in the past few days in order to keep the rally going. Up by 15.1% in the past week, the Ripple native token is presently trading at $0.561.

In doing so, it managed to breach the 23.6% Fibonacci Retracement level, coinciding at $0.551. Flipping this level into a support floor would provide the altcoin a much-needed boost in order to recover to $0.600.

XRP/USD 1-day chart

This bullish thesis, however, could be invalidated if XRP price fails to sustain the $0.551 level as a support level, given the retraction of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF listing from the DTCC website, the original listing of which was also the cause of the recent rally.

Consequently, the altcoin would fall back down to $0.540 and maybe even $0.505 in a worst-case scenario.