XRP price recovery on the cards as institutions favor Ripple over Litecoin and other altcoins

• XRP price spiked by nearly 5% during the intra-day trading hours to breach $0.500
• Earlier in the day, whale alert showed 30 million XRP, representing over 1% of the daily trading volume, being moved by Ripple.
• Speculation of Ripple launching an IPO intensified as the company listed an open position related to it.

XRP price has a crucial uptrend to make, which will dictate whether or not there is a further recovery on the card for the altcoin. There is a fair chance that the Ripple token might be able to achieve it, given the support it is receiving from institutions.

Daily Digest: Ripple makes a major transfer

XRP price noted an increase followed by corrections on October 16 due to Ripple making the sudden transfer of 30 million XRP to Bitstamp. The address found in the whale alert was identified to be linked to Ripple Labs. Furthermore, this is not the first time that the market has seen such a development.

Over the past few weeks, such transfers have popped up time and again as whale transaction alerts. Upon further investigation, it seems that this transfer to Bitstamp and even Bitso is, at times, part of the collaboration between the two platforms and Ripple. Ripple Payments, a service formerly known as On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), is provided in partnership with the two platforms, justifying the large transfers.

The 30 million XRP worth $14 million that moved to these platforms only spiked the price and did not cause FUD because it only represents less than 1.5% of the entire $960 million trading volume noted in the past 24 hours.

Ripple finds institutional interest

While it may be difficult to maintain consistent bullishness, it is important to maintain an uptrend, and for XRP price to continue rising, this is important. Lucky for Ripple, the altcoin is one of institutional investors' favorite digital assets. 

For the week ending October 13, XRP noted inflows worth $0.4 million, which is higher than that of all other altcoins except Solana. Ripple even managed to beat out Ethereum in terms of inflows, bringing the total 2023 flows to $15 million. This is good news for the price action.

Technical Analysis: XRP price hints at recovery

XRP price had a rough week at the beginning of the month from October 4, when it fell by nearly 11%, but has since recovered slightly to trade at $0.493 at the time of writing. The intra-day trading high even managed to push the altcoin above the $0.505 barrier. Flipping this line into a support floor is crucial to initiate a recovery rally to breach the resistance at $0.542 and mark a two-month high.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) noted an uptick in the bearish zone, nearing the neutral line at 50.0. Another green candlestick would result in the indicator flipping the neutral line into support, which will confirm the bullish turn of events.

Similarly, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator is also close to executing a bullish crossover. A bullish crossover occurs when the MACD line (blue) moves over the signal line (red). Plus, with the red bars declining, bearishness can be seen receding.

XRP/USD 1-day chart

Nevertheless, until the bullish signal is confirmed, XRP price is vulnerable to a decline, and a failed breach of $0.505 would result in the same. Though the Ripple token has support at $0.476, losing it would not only invalidate the bullish thesis but also send XRP toward $0.450.