We see Ripple’s XRP continue to trade rangebound under the key $1 level in the absence of strong fundamental drivers for price action in either direction early on Friday. At the time of writing, XRP/USD is trading at around $0.97.

Market Sentiment Keeps Ripple’s XRP Under Pressure

It’s been a quiet week for the seventh largest cryptocurrency by market cap, with the absence of exclusive developments and news to power significant moves in it. After sliding under the $1 mark, buyers have been unable to find enough confidence to attempt a rebound and take it back above this level in recent sessions.

Ripple’s XRP is also being weighed down by somewhat bearish price action in the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. With BTC holding under the $60,000 level, investors are holding back from indulging in a buying spree across the crypto market, adopting a more cautious approach towards digital assets.

A key reason for this is the Fed’s confirmation earlier this week of looking at tightening its monetary policy faster, a sentiment which has driven investors towards the US dollar. A stronger US dollar makes cryptos unappealing and expensive to many investors around the world who trade in other fiat currencies.

Can Fundamentals Offer Support to XRP?

However, Ripple’s XRP could enjoy some volatility on the back of increased whale activity in the crypto lately. Supporting its price could be new of a large holder withdrawing 150 million XRP from leading crypto exchange Binance and into a private wallet. This comes shortly after more whales moved $24 million worth of XRP from exchanges and into their wallets. Moving XRP coins out of an exchange and into private storage increases its value and keeps its price supported in the market.

Another interesting development that can lend some support to the token and encourage some buying action is news of Croatia’s largest supermarket chain Konzum planning to allow customers to make purchases at their physical outlets using cryptocurrencies. The brand had already been accepting crypto as payment on its online stores but will soon roll out this facility for its physical outlets as well, and XRP will be one of the accepted forms of payment.

XRP/USD Technical Analysis

On the H4 chart of XRP/USD, moving averages and the MACD are indicating a bearish bias. Although, the MACD points to some interest among buyers in the market as well.

Ripple’s XRP is sitting very close to the pivot point at $0.976 but far from the immediate support at $0.878. We need to pay a close watch on the pivot point as a rise above this can take XRP back above the $1 mark in the near term.