Ripple Price Analysis: XRP/USD waits for a catalyst to escape the range

• Ripple's XRP is locked in a tight range between $0.1700 and $0.1800.
• The local resistance is created by 1-hour SMA50.

XRP/USD attempted a recovery to $0.1800 on Tuesday only to retreat to $0.1750 by the time of writing. The coin  has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Wednesday, moving in a tight channel with the short-term bullish bias amid expanding volatility. Ripple's XRP is the fourth largest digital asset with the current market value of $7.79 billion and an average daily trading volume of $1 billion. XRP/USD has lost over 15% in June and over 50% since this time in 2019.

XRP/USD: technical picture 

On the intraday chart, XRP/USD recovery is capped by 1-hour SMA50 and the middle line of the 1-hour Bollinger Band (currently at $0.1760). After a failed attempt to push through this resistance, the price retreated to the short-term channel support created by the lower line of the 1-hour Bollinger Band at $0.1740. Once it is out of the way, the sell-off is likely to gain traction with the next focus on the psychological $0.1700 and the weekend low of $0.1691. The RSI points downward in the neutral territory, which means the coin may continue consolidating within the current channel.

XRP/USD 1-hour chart

On the upside,  a sustainable move above 1-hour SMA50 is needed for the upside to gain traction. The next resistance is created by psychological $0.1800 with 1-hour SMA200 located right above this barrier. If it is broken, the recovery may be extended towards a stronger barrier of $0.1950, created by a combination of daily SMA100 and SMA50. A sustainable move above this area is needed for the upside to gain traction with the next focus on $0.2000-$0.2030 that served as a strong resistance area in the beginning of June. 

XRP/USD daily chart

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