Will Ripple (XRP) Price Break Out of Its Tight Range and Rise to $5 This Year?

XRP price experienced a difficult performance last week, slipping from a high of $2.50 to a low of $2.06 as Bitcoin and most altcoins crashed.

Last week was a difficult one for crypto traders, with Bitcoin and most altcoins crashing throughout the period. As a result, most cryptocurrencies closed lower on Friday, despite a slight recovery in the last trading session.

Among the digital currencies that experienced a setback last week was XRP, which slid from a high of $2.50 to a low of $2.06. It was its first weekly decline since the first week of March, when it crashed by almost 30% as the crypto market went into a strong downturn.

However, the price of XRP has remained in a consolidation phase on the weekly chart in the past few months. After rising to a high of $3.40 in January, the coin has retreated by 37% to the current $2.12. It has remained between the key support and resistance level at $3.40 and $1.90 in this period.

On the positive side, the XRP price has remained above the 25-week moving average, a sign that bulls are in control. Also, it remains above the crucial support at $1.9035, the 50% Fibonacci Retracement level. That signals that short sellers are afraid of placing short bets below that price.

But on the negative side, the Ripple price has formed a head and shoulders pattern on the daily chart, whose neckline is at $1.9035. This pattern is one of the riskiest ones in the times, and one that Peter Brandt has recently warned about.

"Don't shoot the messenger.Your favorite Beanie Baby/Pet Rock crypto displays a classic complex H&S top. This could become bullish if 3.0 is exceeded, otherwise the implications is a decline to 1.07. If you have an issue with this, take it up with Magee and Edwards $XRP"

Therefore, a balanced XRP price prediction at this point is neutral. A break below the support at $1.9035 will validate the H&S pattern and point to more downside. It will signal that the coin has moved to the markdown phase of the Wyckoff Theory, and indicate a potential decline to $1.

Conversely, a jump to $5 will only become clearer if the XRP price surges above the key resistance level at $3.40, the highest point this year. Moving above that level will signal that there are more buyers still bullish on Ripple.

What Are The Risks And Opportunities For Ripple This Week?

As Ripple navigates its path towards $5, it encounters both risks and opportunities. The biggest risk comes this week when significant events such as Donald Trump sparking a major trade war on Liberation Day. This trade war is a major black swan event that could tank risky assets.

These fears explains why the XRP coin price has reacted mildly to some positive news recently. Notably, it rose slightly after the SEC ended the Ripple lawsuit this month.

Further, XRP is a highly inflationary token, with a circulating supply of 58.2 billion against a maximum supply of 100 billion tokens.

The main long-term opportunity for Ripple is the potential for it disrupting SWIFT, a network that processes over $150 trillion a year. Ripple Labs argues that its technology is superior to the 50-year-old SWIFT; it is faster and more cost-efficient for banks.

However, Ripple’s main challenge has been its litigation with the SEC, which prevented companies from enrolling in its programs. But with the case done, there are now signs that more big banks will partner with it soon.

The other potential XRP catalyst is the upcoming Ripple ETF approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission that may lead to more inflows from institutional investors.