Category: Crypto News, News
XRP struggles near $2.00 as native staking gains focus
Ripple (XRP) is largely in bearish hands, trading at $2.12 at the time of writing on Wednesday. A bearish wave is stirring volatility in the broader cryptocurrency market amid a prolonged sell-off.
Since XRP hit a record high of $3.66 on July 18, the path of least resistance has generally been downward. Macroeconomic uncertainty, profit-taking, and the lack of prominent price catalysts are some of the factors weighing on the cross-border token.
If risk-off sentiment persists amid weak derivatives and spot markets, the current decline could extend below the critical $2.00 level.
Ripple developers mull staking on the XRP Ledger
RippleX researcher J. Ayo Akinyele stated that the XRP Ledger has made significant progress over the years, from powering payments and enabling the settlement of real-world assets (RWAs) to supporting real-time liquidity across global markets.
Akinyele argued that the launch of the Canary XRP Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) last week is a sign that adoption is growing, backed by institutional demand. However, the protocol must first figure out how to generate staking rewards and distribute them fairly. The Head of Engineering at RippleX added that native staking on the XRP Ledger could be the next step.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), replied to Akinyele’s post in X, saying that he has been mulling over how XRP is used in Decentralised Finance (DeFi).
“With programmability initiatives and smart contract discussions underway, it seemed like a good time for us to also discuss what other DeFi capabilities natively could look like,” Schwartz stated.
XRP trades under pressure amid low retail demand
Retail demand for XRP has not picked up following the October 10 deleveraging event, which liquidated over $19 billion in crypto assets in a single day.
CoinGlass data on the XRP derivatives market shows the futures Open Interest (OI) averaging $3.85 billion on Wednesday, slightly up from Tuesday’s $3.6 billion but significantly below the $4.17 billion recorded on November 1.
A steady increase in OI is required to support XRP’s short-term recovery, indicating that investors have confidence in the token and the ecosystem and are willing to increase their risk exposure.
Meanwhile, XRP OI-Weighted Funding Rate has risen to 0.0090% on Wednesday from Tuesday’s 0.0005%, as traders increasingly pile into long positions.
The cross-border remittance token must hold above $2.07-$2.10 short-term support to improve risk appetite. Otherwise, signs of further weakness may reinforce the bearish outlook.
Technical outlook: XRP sellers tighten their grip
XRP teeters above support between $2.07 and $2.10 at the time of writing on Wednesday as bears tighten their grip. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 37 and falling toward oversold territory on the daily chart, which asserts the bearish outlook.
Similarly, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator has maintained a sell signal since Sunday. The MACD line in blue remains below the red signal line, suggesting risk-averse action for investors.
A break below XRP’s immediate support at $2.07-$2.10 could validate an extended correction below the critical $2.00 level. The next key area to watch is $1.90, which was last tested in June.
Still, a trend reversal is possible from the current $2.07-$2.10 support if investors increase their exposure while anticipating a steady rebound toward the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $2.46.
Crypto ETF FAQs
An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is an investment vehicle or an index that tracks the price of an underlying asset. ETFs can not only track a single asset, but a group of assets and sectors. For example, a Bitcoin ETF tracks Bitcoin’s price. ETF is a tool used by investors to gain exposure to a certain asset.
Yes. The first Bitcoin futures ETF in the US was approved by the US Securities & Exchange Commission in October 2021. A total of seven Bitcoin futures ETFs have been approved, with more than 20 still waiting for the regulator’s permission. The SEC says that the cryptocurrency industry is new and subject to manipulation, which is why it has been delaying crypto-related futures ETFs for the last few years.
Yes. The SEC approved in January 2024 the listing and trading of several Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds, opening the door to institutional capital and mainstream investors to trade the main crypto currency. The decision was hailed by the industry as a game changer.
The main advantage of crypto ETFs is the possibility of gaining exposure to a cryptocurrency without ownership, reducing the risk and cost of holding the asset. Other pros are a lower learning curve and higher security for investors since ETFs take charge of securing the underlying asset holdings. As for the main drawbacks, the main one is that as an investor you can’t have direct ownership of the asset, or, as they say in crypto, “not your keys, not your coins.” Other disadvantages are higher costs associated with holding crypto since ETFs charge fees for active management. Finally, even though investing in ETFs reduces the risk of holding an asset, price swings in the underlying cryptocurrency are likely to be reflected in the investment vehicle too.
Written by : Editorial team of BIPNs
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