Ripple price (XRP/USD) sees lacklustre trading on Thursday

The Ripple price (XRP/USD) has struggled to pick up after experiencing a major pull-back on Wednesday.

Like some of its chief rivals, including Ethereum (ETH), Ripple saw a major price drop in yesterday’s late trading. Having opened the session at $0.319, the third-largest digital currency on the market plunged to an intraday low of $0.308, according to data from digital currency tracker Coinmarketcap. The digital coin managed to recover some of its losses in the final hours of the session and finished the day at $0.313.

Ripple attempted to extend it relief rally on Thursday and had some modest success in the early hours of the session, with its price rising to as high as $0.316. However, the coin has lost the positive momentum in subsequent trading and is currently hovering below the level of its Wednesday close.

At the same time, Ripple’s trading volumes continue to decline. Yesterday, the coin posted daily trading volume of $716.3 million, which was significantly lower than the $881.2 million generated during the preceding session. Recent market data shows that around $685.5 million worth of XRP tokens have changed hands over the past 24 hours, which suggests that the trading activity has been even weaker in today’s session.

In a recent note to clients, MoffettNathanson analyst Lisa Ellis argued that XRP and other cryptocurrencies could one day present a legitimate challenge to existing payment systems, such as Visa and Mastercard.

“Cryptocurrency systems (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple) are potentially disruptive to private payment systems,” Ellis said, as quoted by Bloomberg. “Their core design characteristics –- which are aimed at enabling ‘freedom of money’ — are in direct contrast to the characteristics of most traditional, private payment systems.”

However, the analyst added that such a scenario was unlikely to materialise soon.

In today’s trading, the Ripple price stood at $0.313, as of 14:24 GMT. The digital currency has lost 2.1% in the past 24 hours.

For further information on how to buy and trade Ripple, see our comprehensive Ripple guide.