Ripple (XRP) had a catastrophic year so far. In late 2017 when Ripple (XRP) became so popular that it passed Ethereum (ETH) in market cap briefly and became a direct Bitcoin (BTC) competitor, Ripple (XRP) fans on most platforms were talking about how Ripple (XRP) could become the top cryptocurrency. Major news outlets started talking about how it is too early for decentralized cryptocurrencies to dominate the space and that Ripple (XRP), with the help of the banks and major financial institutions could dominate the space by becoming the largest coin by market cap.
This was not just good old speculative talk, many analysts tried to reason that even if XRP ends up at a fraction of the trillion dollars forex market that could drive the price of XRP astronomically. The argument seemed convincing at the time as banks were cozying up to Ripple as the company signed partnerships left and right every week. Big names like Santander, Bank of America, Western Union, MoneyGram were linked with Ripple. This leaves little room for hesitation when you are already into cryptocurrencies and looking for the next big thing! To many, this was Ripple (XRP) as it was one of the few projects to have signed partnerships with such big corporations. Moreover, the price of XRP was considered dirt cheap at around 20 cents. Some investors even believed that the price of XRP could rise as high as the price of Bitcoin (BTC). This was nothing out of the ordinary considering cryptocurrency investing was still in its infancy and most investors had no prior investing experience.
Optimism and greed drove Ripple (XRP) to a price of $3.40 all the way from $0.18! This was a 19x move made in a matter of weeks. At this point, complacency kicked in and most Ripple (XRP) investors thought the price could shoot up to $10 or higher next year (2018). However, in reality the price had topped out and the opposite happened, dragging the price down to a low of $0.44. Ripple (XRP) is currently down 87% and has one of the highest percentage of bag holders. This means that most Ripple (XRP) hodlers are still holding on to their coins at more than 80% loss from ATH.
However, fortunately for them, Ripple (XRP) charts against both the US Dollar as well Bitcoin appear anything but bearish. The price on XRP/USD chart shows how Ripple (XRP) has reached the bottom of the channel and is ready to lift off for the next rally. XRP/BTC chart shows a similar situation but from another angle. If Ripple (XRP) falls below the green line on the XRP/BTC chart that would mean that the price can fall further to complete an extended correction. However, the inverse fisher transform stochastic oscillator on the lower half of the chart shows that the price is ready for a bullish impetus in the near future as the price seems to have bottomed out for now.
Read more at: Crypto Daily
