Ripple’s native token emerged as the top performer in the past few weeks, surging from under $0.6 to a three-year peak of over $1.25. This means that the asset had finally awakened after Trump’s victory in the elections and caught up to the rest of the market.
According to data from Santiment, this massive rally, in which XRP more than doubled its value, was driven primarily by large purchases from whales and sharks. At the same time, retail investors were disposing of their tokens, perhaps to realize some gains.
As reported last week, whales’ holdings skyrocketed to a 6.5-year high. Overall, whales and sharks accumulated over 450 million tokens (valued at nearly $530 million at the time) within just a week.
Santiment outlined that those tokens came from “retail traders attempting to dump their coins on any small XRP rally.”
“Historically, any cryptocurrency tends to see positive market cap growth when its key stakeholders are increasing their holdings and confidence, while simultaneous retail FUD fuels this growth more. This has been the exact scenario unfolding for crypto’s now #6 market cap asset.” – noted the analytics platform.
The XRP army rejoiced the asset’s surge above $1 and posted numerous promising and a few outrageous predictions about its potential during this cycle.
Some of the more modest ones forecasted that XRP could go to $1.5 next, before peaking at $1.96 or even $3.8. However, others indicated that XRP is preparing for a “mega move” that could push it to as high as $7.
A price tag of $7 would push Ripple’s market cap to over $400 billion, which would place it as the second-largest cryptocurrency. For now, XRP would have to settle for a more modest one of $62 billion, which helped it reclaim the sixth-position from Dogecoin.
This article first appeared at CryptoPotato