XRP/USD jumps 2% and smashes $0.45 resistance in a matter of minutes, catalyst unknown

• XRP/USD spikes above $0.4500 handle.
• Hikmet Ersek from WU comments on  xRapid solution.

XRP/USD is trading at $0.4567 to press time, however, the situation is changing quickly. While the trigger that caused a strong upside movement is unknown, Ripple price is  moving in sync with Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, which are also experiencing a strong growth.

Ripple’s technical picture

From the technical point of view, XRP/USD broke important $0.4500-$0.4530 resistance area, which increased the momentum and pushed the coin higher. Now critical $0.50 is in focus, if the bulls clear it, the upside may be extended towards $0.5309, 50-DMA. Ripple is obviously overbought on an intraday level, which means that the coin may enter a correction phase on approach to the above-mentioned $0.50 handle. If this happens, the price should stay above $0.4500 to retain positive stance.

While Western Union is not willing to add XRP (or any other cryptocurrencies) to its arsenal, the CEO of the paymet giant Hikmet Ersek confirmed that  the company was experimenting with xRapid, but at this stage the solution proved to be too expensive and not as efficient as the company wanted it to be.

“We are always criticized that Western Union is not cost-efficient, blah blah blah, but we did not see that part of the efficiency yet during our tests,” Ersek explained in the interview with Fortune.

“The practical matter is it’s still too expensive,” he added.  

XRP/USD, 1-hour chart