Crypto Investors Rejoiced After Ripple Labs Won Its Case Against the SEC, Yet Markets Have Already Priced the Outcome

Crypto investors rejoiced after one of the industry's longest-standing legal battles was overturned by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, yet markets have seemingly

The Crypto market has seen better days. Despite a slew of good news from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), industry watchers say that the bulls may be disappointed as the market has seemingly priced in the victories months ahead of the announcements.

In a surprising turn of events, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced on March 19 that the SEC will be closing its case against Ripple. This brings to an end four years of litigation, which began when the regulator sued the blockchain developer for an alleged $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering in 2020.

However, the outcome may not be as bullish since industry watchers say that President Trump’s election may have already sparked an 11% rally in the XRP token, and it is unable to sustain gains above the key $2.5 psychological mark. The token fell over 6.3% since March 19, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Other analysts are attributing the lack of momentum in the XRP token to investors anticipating an end to the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, to no avail, and the generally poor market sentiment.

“I'd attribute it to the market already pricing it in as well as the general market situation,” Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at Nansen, told Cointelegraph.

According to technical analysis, an evening triangle pattern has been forming in the XRP chart since the start of the year, which could propel the token toward higher levels after the conclusion of the SEC case.

As of March 21, XRP recovered from testing the triangle’s lower trendline, setting it up for a potential move toward the upper trendline— around the apex point at the $2.35 level—by April. The ultimate target for this possible breakout is $4.35 by June, a 75% rally from the current price levels.

Conversely, a drop below the lower trendline could invalidate the bullish technical setup, setting XRP on the path toward $1.28. The bearish target is obtained by subtracting the triangle’s maximum height from the potential breakdown point at the $2.35.

But while XRP’s price action will be interesting to watch, the broader impact of the SEC dropping the case will have a "long-term effect on the market because of the narrative change," and investors’ expectations of a more crypto-friendly SEC, added Dmitrij Radin, founder of Zekret and chief technology officer of Fideum, a regulatory and blockchain infrastructure firm focused on institutions.