- Ripple traders took over $111 million in profits on their XRP holdings between July 12 and 18, per Santiment data.
- XRP crumbled under the selling pressure and erased 7% of its value on Thursday.
- XRP trades at $0.58, under key psychological level of $0.60.
Ripple (XRP) traders are consistently taking profits on their holdings, following the recent surge in the altcoin’s price. XRPLedger’s native token noted its highest ever weekly gain pushing XRP to a peak of $0.6378 on July 17.
However, XRP has erased recent gains and remains under selling pressure from the profit-taking activities of traders. XRP trades at $0.58, hovering close to key psychological support. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vs. Ripple lawsuit drags on, with no sign of settlement or end in the near future.
Daily Digest Market Movers: Ripple traders take profits, push XRP lower
- The rumors of SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit settlement and expectation that the lawsuit will end ahead of July 31 acted as market movers for XRP.
- The altcoin rallied to its July 17 multi-month local top of $0.6378 on Binance.
- Bitcoin’s rally past $65,000, anticipation of the approval of a Spot Ethereum Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) are the other market movers influencing XRP in the ongoing cycle.
- While attorney Fred Rispoli predicted the end of SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit by the end of July 2024, there is no new filing in the lawsuit and no evidence of a settlement.
- Former securities lawyer addressed the rumors of settlement in the lawsuit and shared his opinion that Ripple has violated federal securities laws.
- Ripple extends gains as XRP traders await end of SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit
- On-chain data from crypto intelligence tracker Santiment shows that XRP traders took over $111 million in gains between July 12 and 18. Mass profit taking likely increased the selling pressure on XRP, pushing the altcoin lower.
- Network realized profit/loss is the metric that measures the net profit/loss shows positive spikes between July 12 to 18, indicating the profit-taking occurred in the time frame.
- Active addresses metric shows large bars corresponding with the same timeframe, signaling the rising activity was associated with profit-taking.
 [17.47.30, 18 Jul, 2024]-638569054485583802.png)
XRP Network Realized Profit/Loss, Active Addresses
Technical analysis: XRP erases over 7% value in a day
Ripple is currently in an uptrend, forming higher highs and higher lows. At the time of writing, XRP trades at $0.5822. XRP erased over 7% of its value on the day, however the momentum indicator Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) shows that there is underlying positive strength in Ripple’s price trend.
XRP could extend gains by 14.42% and revisit $0.6666, the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement of the decline between March 12 top of $0.7440 and July 5 bottom of $0.3823.
XRP/USDT daily chart
If XRP sees a daily candlestick close below $0.5632, the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of the same decline, it could invalidate the bullish thesis, and result in a drop to support at $0.5205 (38.2% Fibonacci retracement level).
SEC vs Ripple lawsuit FAQs
It depends on the transaction, according to a court ruling released on July 14: For institutional investors or over-the-counter sales, XRP is a security. For retail investors who bought the token via programmatic sales on exchanges, on-demand liquidity services and other platforms, XRP is not a security.
The United States Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Ripple and its executives of raising more than $1.3 billion through an unregistered asset offering of the XRP token. While the judge ruled that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, sales of XRP tokens to institutional investors are indeed investment contracts. In this last case, Ripple did breach the US securities law and will need to keep litigating over the around $729 million it received under written contracts.
The ruling offers a partial win for both Ripple and the SEC, depending on what one looks at. Ripple gets a big win over the fact that programmatic sales aren’t considered securities, and this could bode well for the broader crypto sector as most of the assets eyed by the SEC’s crackdown are handled by decentralized entities that sold their tokens mostly to retail investors via exchange platforms, experts say. Still, the ruling doesn’t help much to answer the key question of what makes a digital asset a security, so it isn’t clear yet if this lawsuit will set precedent for other open cases that affect dozens of digital assets. Topics such as which is the right degree of decentralization to avoid the “security” label or where to draw the line between institutional and programmatic sales are likely to persist.
The SEC has stepped up its enforcement actions toward the blockchain and digital assets industry, filing charges against platforms such as Coinbase or Binance for allegedly violating the US Securities law. The SEC claims that the majority of crypto assets are securities and thus subject to strict regulation. While defendants can use parts of Ripple’s ruling in their favor, the SEC can also find reasons in it to keep its current strategy of regulation by enforcement.
The court decision is a partial summary judgment. The ruling can be appealed once a final judgment is issued or if the judge allows it before then. The case is in a pretrial phase, in which both Ripple and the SEC still have the chance to settle.
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