Ripple (XRP) is gaining momentum despite growing market volatility

It remains unclear, however, whether the optimistic whales and new users flocking to the Ripple network will be able to translate the rise in XRP’s price into a new gear.

Altcoin markets were hit hard last week after major trading platforms delisted a number of tokens declared securities by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The native token project Ripple has held up more steadily than many other leading cryptocurrencies, however. Against this backdrop, will investors reallocate their capital to XRP and will the whales be able to push the price of XRP above $0.60?

Altcoin investors switch to XRP

Apparently, the market’s positive reaction to the SEC’s stance on XRP appears to have contributed significantly to its resilience. In its lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance the regulator did not include the coins issued by Ripple (along with ETH and BTC) into the list of cryptocurrencies recognized as securities. The Whales apparently took this as an additional signal to Ripple’s potential victory in the protracted legal battle with the SEC.

The whales have taken this as an additional signal to Ripple’s potential victory in the protracted legal battle with the SEC.

Following the recent crackdown by U.S. regulators on the crypto industry, worried altcoin investors have begun to turn increased attention to the XRP ledger network (XRPL).

The growth of the XRPL network has increased significantly since early June. Specifically, between June 2 and June 12, the figure rose 70%, from 1,435 to 2,443 new wallets created.

XRP and the growth of the Ripple network. Source: Santiment

The network growth metric tracks the rate at which a given blockchain attracts new users by summing the number of new addresses created daily.

When it rises sharply during an industry-wide downturn, as shown above, it indicates that the project is taking market share away from other networks.

A growing number of users joining the network is creating new demand for services built on this blockchain. This ultimately puts upward pressure on the price of the network’s native token.

Historical data shows that previous token price cycles have often moved in sync with the network’s growth rate dynamics.

If that pattern repeats itself again as investors continue to pour into Ripple from other altcoin networks, XRP holders can expect further price gains in the coming weeks.

“Bull whales have seized control.

Onchain data shows that the recent crackdown by regulators has effectively split the whale investors in the XRPL network into two camps. Since May 31, the cohort holding balances between 10 and 100 million XRP has been in a mostly bearish position. In contrast, those with tokens between 1 million and 10 million were optimistic.

The chart below shows that the Bear Whales (in red) sold 10 million XRP coins between June 6 and June 12.. At the same time, “whale bulls” (blue) bought 70 million coins during the same period.

XRP and whale wallet balances. Source: Santiment

At current price levels of $0.52, bulls on XRP invested $36.4 million to overcome bearish whale selling pressure of $5.2 million.

Since the bulls are leading by such a wide margin, that may be enough to sway hawkish retail and institutional investors into the bull camp.

In general, if new investors continue to flock to the XRPL network and the whales remain in control, the price rally could go into second gear in the coming weeks.

XRP Forecast: One last dash to $0.60?

If the whales continue to build up their long positions, the price of XRP could jump closer to $0.60 before retreating.

At current levels around $0.52, most crypto investors who have bought XRP over the past month are now in the profit zone (about 2%), according to Santiment and the Market-Value to Realized-Value (MVRV) onchain metric.</nbsp;

According to historical trading patterns, they are likely to hold out for a while longer before they start taking profits around $0.55.

If the bulls can overcome that resistance, however, XRP could be approaching their $0.60 target.

XRP and MVRV. Source: Santiment

And conversely, bears could reverse course if the price of XRP unexpectedly drops below $0.50. However, a large number of investors would likely back the coin in that area as they look to avoid getting into a net-loss position.

If they fail to do so, XRP could fall much lower to the next significant support level of $0.45.

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