As the total crypto market cap nears the $4 trillion mark for the first time since Satoshi Nakamoto’s era, Ripple Labs’ XRP has been in the limelight for an impressive performance. The utility-based altcoin led the top 20 crypto projects with more than 10 percent gain to trade at about $2.64 on Tuesday, December 17, during the mid-New York session.
As a result, the large-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $265 billion and a daily average traded volume of about $21 billion, is only 21 percent away from retesting its all-time high (ATH) set in January 2017. Moreover, XRP price has already broken out of a multi-year symmetrical triangular consolidation following an impressive rally of over 420 percent in the past two months.
What Next for XRP Price?
After being trapped in a bearish consolidation in the past two weeks, the XRP price has broken out of a falling channel in preparation for a fresh bull rally. According to legendary trader Peter Brandt, XRP price has finally broken out of a bullish flag, signaling the onset of a rally toward an all-time high.
From a technical analysis standpoint, XRP price is aiming at $3.4 next, which coincides with the daily 0.618 Fibonacci Extension. However, the XRP price in the daily time frame must consistently close above the resistance level of around $2.6 to confirm a rally toward the ATH.
Ripple’s Robust Fundamentals
Ripple has grown over the years to a major blockchain payment company focused on cross-border space. In a bid to complement XRP’s utility in cross-border payments, Ripple has launched its much-hyped fiat-backed stablecoin dubbed RLUSD to compete with existing leaders led by Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.
The developments on the XRPL have significantly bolstered the mainstream adoption of XRP. Moreover, Ripple’s core developers intend to enable multi-chain smart contract compatibility for the XRPL network by next year.