XRP breaks out as whales scoop 300M tokens: can bulls force a move to $1.50?

XRP price has jumped more than 18% over the past 24 hours to trade near $1.31 on Aug. 21, bringing the $1.50 level back into focus after the token briefly touched roughly $1.34.

CoinGecko data showed XRP had risen from around $1.10 over the past day, with the token initially reaching roughly $1.34 before pulling back towards $1.23 and recovering above $1.30. Its gains extended to around 30% over the past seven days.

The rally has come as cryptocurrency prices moved higher alongside Bitcoin, which climbed past $75,000 during Asian trading on Friday after first breaking through $70,000. 

The move followed the US Treasury's decision to at least double the size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated government debt.

The Treasury said the changes apply to longer-dated nominal coupon securities covering the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors. 

Markets initially responded with lower yields and a weaker US dollar, while cryptocurrencies and other risk assets gained.

XRP has also received support from developments involving Ripple and institutional lending on the XRP Ledger. 

On Aug. 20, Ripple, Clearpool and Cicada Partners disclosed plans for an institutional credit product that will provide RLUSD-denominated working-capital loans to fintech and payments companies.

Under the planned structure, Clearpool will provide the infrastructure used to create and operate lending pools. 

The company has facilitated more than $930 million in institutional loans since 2021.

Cicada Partners will source borrowers, set loan terms, and monitor credit risk while serving as the fund's general partner and credit-pool manager. The firm has underwritten more than $860 million in credit.

Ripple will participate as a limited partner and provide capital alongside other institutional investors. 

The company will not guarantee the loans or cover losses incurred by other investors, while its investment and the planned size of the fund have not been disclosed.

Large XRP holders have also been buying during the recovery. Crypto analyst Ali Martinez reported that whales accumulated more than 300 million XRP within 96 hours, adding another source of demand as the token climbed from its recent lows.

XRP price action

On the daily chart, XRP's latest rally has pushed the token through several technical levels that had capped price during its decline over the past few months.

XRP/USDT 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView.

The 21-day Donchian Channel shows XRP trading above its upper boundary near $1.268 after breaking out of the range on a sharp increase in trading volume. 

Holding above the $1.27 area would keep the breakout intact, while a move back below it would put the strength of the latest move under pressure.

XRP has also reclaimed its 20-day, 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages, which sit near $1.083, $1.092 and $1.160, respectively.

The 200-day EMA at approximately $1.342 is now the more important hurdle. XRP's intraday move towards $1.34 has brought price directly into this resistance, making the 1.34-1.35 region the first level bulls need to clear before $1.50 becomes a more realistic target.

A daily close above the 200-day EMA could open a move towards $1.40. Beyond that, the previous price structure puts 1.48-1.50 in focus, while a break above $1.50 could expose the March trading area around 1.55-1.60.

Shorter-term indicators show strong buying pressure but also warn that the rally has become stretched.

On the 4-hour chart, XRP is trading around $1.31 while session VWAP stands near $1.30.

XRP/USDT 4-hour price chart. Source: TradingView.

Price holding above VWAP keeps buyers in control of the short-term trend, with the surrounding VWAP area between approximately $1.29 and $1.31 serving as the first support zone if profit-taking increases.

At the same time, the 14-period Money Flow Index has climbed to around 88, well above the 80 level commonly associated with overbought conditions. 

The reading shows that price and volume momentum remain strong, but it also leaves XRP vulnerable to a pullback or consolidation following the steep rally.

If XRP fails to clear the 200-day EMA and loses the 1.29-1.27 support region, the next downside area sits around 1.20-1.16, with the latter corresponding closely to the daily 100-day EMA.