SEC v Ripple News Delivers an XRP Weekend Breakout

It was a particularly bullish start to the weekend for Ripple’s XRP. On Saturday, XRP rallied by 7.11% to end the day at $0.8136. The breakout session ended a 3-day losing streak that had seen XRP retreat from a Wednesday current year high $0.9154. Crypto market forces, driven by the NASDAQ 100 and market jitters over a possible Russian invasion of the Ukraine had weighed.

SEC v Ripple Progress Remains XRP Positive

SEC v Ripple news updates have continued to deliver XRP with much-needed support. On Wednesday, updates on the SEC v Ripple case had been XRP positive. The crypto markets reacted favorable to news of case judge Analisa Torres granting a number of motions in favor of Ripple. Court documents detail the motions in which Ripple motions were granted and denied. XRP struck its current year-high in response before succumbing to crypto market forces.

Following the mid-week news, Ripple filed a motion late last week to compel the SEC to share meeting notes from a November 2018 meeting between former SEC acting chairman Elad Roisman and Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse. The news delivered support on Saturday. The motion suggestions that disclosure of the meeting notes could favor Ripple’s position in the case.

Other Lawsuits Yet to Gain Traction

While the main area of focus is on the SEC v Ripple case, there have been a number of conflict of interest claims against the SEC.

Late last year, we reported on Empower Oversight filing a lawsuit against the SEC. Empower Oversight alleged that former SEC officials were biased against Ripple Lab and XRP in favor of Ethereum (ETH). To date, SEC Chair Gensler continues to dodge questions on whether Ethereum is a security.

Earlier this month, the SEC took another blow, with lawyers representing non-U.S XRP investors demanding an investigation into the SEC’s actions against Ripple Lab. As we reported, the petition claimed that “the SEC enforcement actions on cryptocurrencies have involved the appearance of improper ties and conflicts of interest among officials, and should be investigated”. Importantly, the petition also points out that petition attorney John Deaton “has compiled evidence that SEC officials may have colluded with outside parties to regulate cryptocurrencies in line with their personal financial interests”.

Both actions against the SEC focus on the conflict-of-interest issue that remains a key component to the Ripple case. Following the motions from early last week, the SEC has until 17^th February to make public sealed documents that could shed more light on how the SEC viewed XRP back in 2012. Should the documents reveal that the SEC did not view XRP as a security, it could prove to be decisive.

XRP Price Action

At the time of writing, XRP was up by 0.10% to $0.8162. For the day ahead XRP would need to avoid the day’s $0.8045 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.8611. XRP will likely face plenty of resistance at Saturday’s high $0.8520. In the event of another breakout, XRP could test resistance at $0.90 before any pullback. The second major resistance level sits at $0.9087.

A fall through the day’s $0.8045 pivot would bring the first major support level at $0.7569 into play. Barring an extended sell-off, however, XRP should steer well clear of the day’s major support levels.

Looking at the EMAs and 4-hourly candlesticks (below), the 50-day EMA continues to pull away from the 100-day EMA and 200-day EMAs after Friday’s bullish cross. For XRP, avoiding a fall through the 100-day EMA currently at $0.74 levels will be key near-term.

Over the near-term, a move back through to $1.00 levels would then bring November’s high $1.348 into view. Price action will hinge on SEC v Ripple news updates.