XRP price: 'sell the news' moment nears after crypto-leading 20% weekly gain

XRP whales have been accumulating since February with only days remaining until the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit could reach its potential conclusion.

XRP (XRP) price is currently outperforming all other major cryptocurrencies as of March 27, rising over 20% in the past seven days.

XRP accumulation ahead of SEC vs. Ripple ruling

XRP has seen steady gains over the past seven days as the ongoing legal quandary between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to conclude by the end of March.

Meanwhile, the supply of XRP held by addresses with a balance between 10 million and 100 million tokens has risen by over 1% since February. That coincides with a 0.75% drop in the XRP supply held by the 1 million-10 million address cohort.

The addresses holding between 1,000 and 1 million XRP also increased their token holdings in the same period. That shows the XRP whales stacked up more tokens in the days leading up to the ruling on SEC vs. Ripple's so-called summary judgment.

Multiple observers, including legal expert John Deaton, see Ripple winning the case, arguing that the SEC may have failed to give the company a "fair notice" before suing it for committing securities fraud. 

I have no doubt Ripple will win and the current Supreme Court will shut down the @SECGov’s gross overreach. The West Virginia EPA case is all you need to read to agree with me. @Ripple’s summary judgment brief is already an extremely well written appellate brief. https://t.co/o3g9zML9S2

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) February 20, 2023

In recent months, Analisa Torres, the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit, has also favored Ripple on various motions. For instance, she has approved Ripple's demand that the SEC makes its internal emails and documents regarding cryptocurrencies public, which may prove that the regulator unfairly targeted the company.

25% XRP price pullback in April?

From a technical perspective, the XRP/USD rally has brought the pair near a resistance confluence zone, which may lead to bearish reversal in the coming weeks.

The confluence comprises of a multi-year descending trendline (black), a 200-3D exponential moving average (200-3D EMA; the blue wave) and a support-turned-resistance horizontal level at around $0.50 (purple).

In addition, XRP's three-day relative strength index (RSI) eyes a close above its overbought threshold of 70, adding to the bearish case for April. 

Related: Will BTC ditch the bear market? 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

In the case of a pullback, the XRP price's next downside target appears at its multi-month ascending trendline support (black) around $0.35, down about 25% from current price levels.

On the other hand, a breakout above the descending trendline will have XRP price eyeing $0.60 as the next upside target.

This level has served as support in December 2021 and January 2022 — and as resistance in the September-October 2022 session. It is also the target of a prevailing bull pennant structure.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.