XRP price aims to find a new catalyst for a bullish surge above $1

XRP’s price experienced an impressive 100% gain following a landmark ruling in the XRP securities case. However, buyers are now facing challenges in maintaining these gains. The surge in price came after Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP sales do not qualify the token as a security, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ripple.

While trading interest in XRP is increasing, there are indications of a potential short-term pullback based on technical and network usage data.

## Traders show interest in XRP, but network growth remains stagnant

According to CoinGlass data, the open interest volume for XRP futures contracts reached its highest point since November 2021, with a value of $1.19 billion on July 20. XRP’s spot trading volumes even surpassed those of Bitcoin and Ether, and major U.S.-based exchanges like Gemini and Coinbase have relisted XRP, further boosting market sentiment.

However, the network’s activity has not experienced a similar increase. The number of transactions executed on the XRP Ledger has remained consistent for over a year, indicating a lack of new participants actively engaging with the network.

The XRP Ledger, created by Ripple Labs, utilizes XRP as a payment token and for securing the blockchain. To promote network growth, Ripple has increased efforts for XRP Ledger adoption, including investing $54 million in the metaverse project Futureverse and establishing new partnerships with banks to facilitate low-cost global payments.

## XRP/USD price analysis

From a technical perspective, the XRP/USD pair faces resistance from a long-term bearish trendline that dates back to the 2018 peak. A weekly close above this level would strengthen investor sentiment and potentially mark the end of the bearish trend. In the event that buyers fail to maintain the bullish momentum, XRP/USD could revisit support around $0.54 before attempting another upward move.

The XRP/BTC pair is also facing resistance at a long-term level between 0.00002533 BTC and 0.00003341 BTC. Buyers have struggled to surpass this level since 2019. Failure to establish support above this range may lead to a revisit of support around 0.00001555 BTC. A bullish correction could occur if the pair finds support at the 50-period moving average (MA) at 0.00002057 BTC or the 200-period MA at 0.00001913 BTC.

Considering the current futures open interest for XRP, which has reached a two-year peak of over $1 billion, significant volatility is expected in the near term. Furthermore, the funding rate for perpetual swaps suggests a positive trend since the court ruling, indicating increased demand for long positions. This raises the possibility of a correction to liquidate overleveraged buyers.

While there is no investment advice in this article, the positive regulatory development, technical progress, and growing popularity of XRP among retail users suggest that the long-term negative trend of XRP may come to an end in the coming weeks due to positive catalysts related to its mainstream adoption.

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