The open interest for the world’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency has skyrocketed to an all-time high of roughly $1.8 billion, according to CryptoQuant’s data.
This comes after the recent developments around the company behind the token, as well as the growing hopes for a change in the US regulatory environment.
XRP OI at New Peaks
The report from CryptoQuant’s analyst, maartunn, outlined the substantial increase for both XRP’s price as of late as well as the open interest.
The graph above demonstrates that both metric move in tandem since the US elections three weeks ago. At the time, XRP struggled below $0.6 while the OI was at around $500 million. In the following weeks, Ripple’s token exploded by double and even triple-digit at times and skyrocketed to over $1.6 for the first time in over three years on the hype that SEC Chair Gary Gensler will vacate his post in January 2025.
The open interest followed a similar trajectory, jumping to $1.8 billion during the weekend, which became its highest level ever.
Aside from Gensler’s announcement, which “has sparked optimism for a more favorable regulatory environment for crypto, including XRP,” maartunn outlined two other reasons behind the growing OI.
“2) Political Shifts: Donald Trump’s recent election victory has brought bullish sentiment, with expectations of more crypto-friendly regulations driving interest in the market.
3) XRP ETF Speculation: Asset managers have filed applications for an XRP ETF. Gensler’s planned exit raises hopes for approval, attracting institutional investors to XRP.”
Trump carried out a pro-crypto campaign during the election cycle, which many believe helped him secure the landslide victory. He has made numerous promises regarding the industry and that his administration will support it and help it thrive, which has helped fuel the recent bull rally.
On the other hand, the inevitable changes at the SEC started a wave of filings for crypto ETFs, and XRP is among the most frequently mentioned tokens that could follow the example set by Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What About XRP ATH?
Although it’s up by 180% in the past month, XRP’s price at around $1.5 now still means that the asset is more than 50% down from its ATH reached in early 2018 of $3.4 (according to CoinGecko). This means that it needs more than double its valuation to reach those peaks.
While that sounds like a tough challenge, many crypto analysts remain optimistic that XRP will be able to do just that during this cycle, especially if there’s a rapid and favorable conclusion to the lawsuit against the SEC after Gensler leaves.
In some of the most outrageous predictions, the XRP army has outlined targets like $10 or even $30 per coin.
