XRP may be vulnerable to massive sell-off as Ripple releases another 100M from escrow account

• Ripple shocked the community by releasing another 100 million tokens, off the schedule.
• XRP/USD needs to stay above SMA50 1-hour to retain bullish bias.

Ripple’s XRP has been retreating after a sharp growth during the previous days. The third largest coin with the current market value of $12.3 billion, reached a new high at $0.2878 and retreated to $0.2830 by the time of writing. The coin has been under selling pressure recently, despite positive momentum on the global cryptocurrency market. Ripple’s average daily trading volume is registered at $2,9 billion, in line with the recent figures.

Holders are angered by another tokens release

A Whale Alert service reported on Thursday that Ripple released another 100 million XRP (approximately $28 million) from its escrow wallet. This development is regarded as a strong bearish signal for the coin as the release brings more coins in circulation and dillude XRP’s value. 

Notably, Ripple already unfrozen 1 billion tokens in the beginning of the the month in accordance with its 55-month plan of tokens release. Thus this is an additional amount that may hit XRP price badly.

XRP/USD has grown strongly on the news of Ripple’s partnership with International Money Express, Inc. (Intermex), a payment service provider focused on Latin America and Caribbean region. In a separate development, the largest trading platfrom for cryptocurrency derivatives, BitMEX, launched XRP/USD perpetual swaps.

XRP/USD is in technically difficult situation

XRP/USD retreated from the recent high, though it is still trading above SMA50 1-hour at $0.2800, which is a positive signal in the short run. If this technical barrier is taken out, the sell-off may be extended towards $0.2700 with SMA100 1-hour located just below this level. A sustainable move lower will negate the immediate bullish scenario and open up the way to $0.2600 (broken channel resistance) and $0.2550 underpinned by SMA50 4-hour.

On the upside, we will need to see a sustainable move the recent high of $0.2878 and $0.2900 this handle for the upside to gain traction. Once this happens, psychological $0.3000 will come into focus. It is followed by $0.3150, which is the highest level since November 7, 2019.

XRP/USD daily chart