TL;DR

Active XRP addresses have exploded in the past week, signaling new bullish momentum for the asset’s price. Analysts remain optimistic, with some predicting a parabolic move above $27. However, that would require the market cap to jump to the unrealistic $1.5 trillion.

The Substantial Increase

Ripples XRP witnessed enhanced volatility in the last week, with its price briefly plunging below $2 towards the end of February and reaching a local top of over $3 at the start of March. Currently, the asset is worth around $2.50, representing a 10% jump on a seven-day scale. 

XRP Price, Source: CoinGecko Some factors suggest that a further jump might be on the horizon. According to Ali Martinez, the number of active XRP addresses has skyrocketed by 620% in the last week: from less than 75,000 to over 460,000.

The significant resurgence signals increased network activity, growing adoption, and more on-chain utility for Ripples native token. 

Another element worth observing is the whales activity. Earlier this month, Martinez revealed that large investors purchased more than 270 million XRP in 48 hours. Continuous efforts of that type leave fewer tokens on the open market, which could be followed by a price rally (assuming demand doesnt head south).

The whales actions is also closely monitored by some smaller players, who might decide to follow suit and inject fresh capital into the ecosystem.

XRPs Next Possible Targets

Crypto X is full of market observers who believe the assets valuation is gearing up for a major bull run. Most recently, the analyst using the moniker EGRAG CRYPTO outlined some important reasons why XRP could be preparing for its next big leap.

Some of the factors include a retest of the bull market support band and a noise consolidation at the $2-$3.40 range. 

The X user reminded that in 2017, XRP followed a classic Fib extension move, smashing Fib 1.618, consolidating, then making another parabolic move to Fib 2.236. They assumed that if history repeats, this could result in a price explosion above $27. 

It is worth noting that such a high valuation would require the coins market cap to soar to almost $1.5 trillion. As of this writing, the total capitalization of the entire crypto sector is around $3 trillion, making the forecast somewhat implausible. EGRAG CRYPTO had an answer to that, saying:

Now, I already hear the skeptics yelling, But what about Market Cap?! Heres my response: Shut the FUD up. Market cap is a flawed measurement when it comes to real utility-driven assets.