Ripple (XRP) is one of the few cryptocurrencies to have completed a correction of more than 90% since its all time high. The price has settled just above the $0.25 mark which seems to be a bottom as indicated by the Vix diagram on the above weekly chart for XRP/USD. Wave trend analysis for the chart above shows that the price has likely bottomed out and is now preparing for a bullish breakout in the weeks ahead.
Previously, Ripple (XRP) had surged on what has been speculation for the most part as announcements and news of ‘big partnerships’ every second day pushed the price higher and higher until it rose above $3.2, at which point many began to question what justified XRP’s valuation at such a price. This led to some serious examination of XRP as an investment and a lot of things came to light in the months following the beginning of the correction.
Concerns about Ripple’s large share of XRP tokens and centralization had already been looming before but it did not stop the price from breaking past $3. This time around though, those concerns are a lot more serious as other important issues have come to light. Ripple (XRP) previously claimed that it had partnered up with financial giants like Western Union and Moneygram but as Western Union’s CEO revealed this year that XRP had made no difference to their business, it came as a shock to many. After some digging, it became clear that these ‘partners’ were using XRP only for minute amounts and that too for experimentation. Even during those experiments, Western Union, according to their CEO, found that XRP made no difference to cutting their expenses. In fact, using XRP was an added expense.
Recently, Ripple (XRP) announced that they have partnered up with some exchanges including Bittrex and Bitso for the use of their XRP tokens. While some may see this as one of Ripple’s new partnerships that are going to boost the price of XRP, I see it as a move of desperation. If Ripple (XRP) had any success with partners like Santander, Moneygram and Western Union, they would not have to do this. Furthermore, saying that these exchanges will use XRP is not enough. It has to be clear how these exchanges are going to use XRP, what they are going to use it for and what amount of XRP are they going to use.
Ripple is a great company but its success does not necessarily mean the success of XRP. The weekly chart above for XRP/BTC shows that XRP has a lot of room for growth. It is possible that the coin might make new highs in the years ahead considering XRP investors are heavily bought on the idea of XRP eventually becoming the only medium of exchange, replacing Bitcoin (BTC), even in market cap.
There are three categories of investors in the crypto space: the pessimists, the realists and the optimists. The pessimists think cryptocurrencies are a scam and that they will eventually lose their appeal and fade away. Yet, they invest in these coins temporarily or short them most of the time, but they do not believe in holding long term. There are realists who believe that coins like Bitcoin (BTC) are poised for mass adoption and that eventually most cryptocurrrency projects will fade away but the ones with actual use cases will remain. Then there are optimists who believe that the time will come for coins like Ripple (XRP) to have a solid use case and to capture a significant chunk of the global forex market, thus raising the price of XRP.
