FOMO, funding rates, SEC battle

XRP started its strong bull run right after the broader crypto market started to cool down. 

XRP (XRP) reached an eight-month high of $0.73 late Tuesday and soon its price started to decline. The asset became the seventh-largest cryptocurrency, surpassing USDC’s $36 billion market cap.

Despite the mild price drop, XRP is still up 8% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $0.654 at the time of writing. Its market cap is currently sitting at $37 billion.

XRP’s daily trading volume almost tripled, surpassing the $12 billion mark. High trading volume usually leads to high volatility.

One of the most important factors for XRP to break the $0.74 barrier is the fear of missing out, according to Santiment. 

At this point, over 4% of all the crypto-related discussions on social platforms are related to XRP as its price neared the March high. 

Data shared by Santiment shows two similar spikes in the XRP social dominance. The first came in early August when XRP surged from $0.44 to above the $0.60 mark — suggesting a local top.

The second spike came in early October as the XRP price plunged from $0.64 to $0.52 — showing its local bottom.

If the XRP price gains upward momentum before its social spike fades away, it’s likely the asset will reach the $0.74 zone.

Another major catalyst could be the XRP funding rate on major crypto exchanges. For example, the asset’s Binance funding rate shows a very high ratio of longs over shorts. This could hint at a potential price correction if the amount of long liquidations exceeds shorts.

XRP’s rally is also connected to the Donald Trump win in the U.S. presidential election. The president-elect vowed to fire Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman.

The SEC, under a crypto-friendly chairperson, could potentially end its legal battle with Ripple, the company behind XRP, which would trigger another wave of FOMO among investors.

Most notably, Trump has been considering Dan Gallagher, the chief legal officer at Robinhood, as Gensler’s replacement at the SEC.