Ripple (XRP) Price Stagnant Despite $80M Whale Investment

Investors are growing hawkish as Ripple (XRP) price enters its third consecutive week, hovering just below the $0.49 mark. Are the bearish retail investors keeping XRP prices stagnant?

As many crypto enthusiasts predicted, Ripple’s (XRP) long-running lawsuit with US SEC failed to reach a conclusion in H1 2023. The looming uncertainty has seen the XRP price stagnate between $0.47 and $0.49 for nearly three consecutive weeks. 

On-chain data shows that whale investors and retail market participants are now taking opposing stances. 

XRP Whales Have Invested Another $80 Million in July

Amid the apparent price stagnation, a large cluster of institutional investors has been taking long positions on XRP this month. 

The Santiment chart below shows that whales holding 1 million to 100 million XRP coins have added 170 million coins to their wallet balances since the start of July.

With XRP prices currently hovering around $0.47, the new investment by the whales is worth approximately $80 million. Under normal circumstances, such a large inflow of funds within a period of 10 days is enough to trigger a significant price surge. 

However, on-chain data suggests that retail investors across the XRP ledger network currently have other ideas.  

Downtrend in Network Activity Among Retail Investors Could Keep Price Stagnant

According to data compiled by Santiment, the hawkish positions taken by XRR retail investors appear to negate the whale’s bullish pressure. 

As shown below, the decline in Daily Active Addresses has dragged down the total transaction volume recorded across the XRP Ledger Network. 

Since the start of July, the total number of users deploying transactions on the XRP ledger network has declined by 50%. And despite the whales’ $80 million accumulation, the total XRP Transaction Volume also crashed by a whopping 92% during that same period. 

Daily Active Addresses measures the activity level among retail network participants by summing up the number of wallet addresses that carry out transactions. 

When it drops drastically, as observed above, it signifies that many retail investors are taking a hawkish position. The 90% drop in the total XRP Transaction Volume further confirms this bearish projection. 

In summary, while whales appear largely optimistic, on-chain data suggests that retail investors are taking a different disposition. If this trend lingers, the XRP price will likely remain neutral in the coming days. 

XRP Price Prediction: $0.50 Remains a Stumbling Block

Considering the aforementioned factors, the bulls are unlikely to find enough momentum to scale the $0.50 resistance in the coming days. 

In confirmation of this prediction, the MVRV ratio shows that after the price remained stagnant for 3 weeks, most XRP holders are now sitting on 3% losses. Historical data suggests that many could sell once they break even around $0.49. 

But if the bulls push past that resistance XRP could rally toward $0.52 before retracing. 

Yet, the bears have a relatively equal chance of forcing a downswing if XRP loses the $0.45 support. However, investors could stop selling around $0.46 to keep their losses below 5%. 

Nevertheless, if the $0.45 support level caves, then XRP could dwindle toward $0.40.