XRP price grazed the $0.52 mark on Feb 8 as investors regain confidence following negative sentiment that heralded the $120 million hack on Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen’s wallet on Jan 31.
On-chain data trends shows that whale investors on Ripple’s XRP Ledger ecosystem are now regaining confidence following exchanges and law enforcement response to the hack.
As the rebound phase begins, can XRP price reach $0.60?
XRP whales regain confidence after initial negative reactions
On Jan. 31, crypto influencer ZachZBT alerted his 493,000 X followers to hackers gaining unauthorized access to a wallet controlled by Ripple Labs’ co-founder Chris Larsen.
Between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3, XRP price tanked 12%, dropping to a 50-day low of $0.48 as markets reacted negatively to the news.
During that period a significant number of large investors instantly closed or cut down on their positions as the market Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) heightened. However, on-chain data trends show that the whales appear to have regained confidence this week.
The Santiment’s chart below shows that 1,986 wallets held at least 1 million XRP (~$500,000) as of Jan. 29. As news of the $120 million hack broke, 29 of them rapidly closed or cut down on their positions, bringing the number of whale wallets to a 30-day low of 1,957 on Feb. 3.
XRP Whales Wallets Reacting to Ripple Labs Co-Founder Hack Jan 29 to Feb. 7 | Source: Santiment
Notably, Binance CEO Richard Teng recently announced that $4.2 million worth of funds linked to the hack had been seized. The Ripple Labs team also further confirmed on-going investigations in collaboration with law enforcement agencies to recover the funds.
These positive developments appear to have calmed frayed nerves. Interestingly, the uptrend in the red trendl ine above suggests that 17 whales have rejoined the ecosystem between Feb. 3 and Feb. 7, as the large holder wallets increased to 1,974 at the time of writing.
XRP records $15 million whale inflows rebound phase begins
An increase in the number of XRP whale wallets after such a significant market event can be interpreted as a bullish signal.
Essentially, indicates a growing confidence among large investors that after careful assessment, the hack is unlikely to trigger a deterioration or compromise of the network’s security architecture as initially feared.
In confirmation of this stance, Santiment’s balance of addresses shows that the whales have started to make significant inflows since the Binance CEO’s issued a statement confirming the funds seizure on Feb. 1.
Whale Investors Acquire $15 million Ripple (XRP) as Price Rebound Phase Begins | Source: Santiment
Valued at the 7-day simple moving average price of $0.50, the whales have now made inflows worth $15 million within the past week.
Typically, such a rapid accumulation by institutional or experienced investors signals within a short period indicates growing conviction of an imminent price appreciation. As markets recover from the shock hack event, retail investors could also begin to take a cue from the whales’ bullish position.
If this scenario plays out as expected, XRP price could be on the verge of a rebound phase, possibly retesting the $0.60 area in the coming days.
XRP Price Forecast: Can it Reach $0.60?
Drawing inferences from the on-chain trends analyzed above, the whales buying pressure has put XRP price on an upward trajectory, gaining 2% within the daily timeframe on Feb. 7.
However, the upper Bollinger band technical indicator clearly illustrates that a large sell-wall looms around $0.55.
If the bulls can scale that hurdle, a breakout above $0.60 could be on the cards.
Ripple (XRP) Price Forecast, Bollinger Band Indicator, February 2024. | Source: TradingView
Conversely, the bears could negate this bullish XRP price forecast if the can force a downswing below $0.45. But as observed in the past week, the bulls will likely mount a dominant support buy-wall the $0.49 area as depicted by the lower-Bollinger band line.
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