Ripple Price Forecast: Wall Street Exposure Could Become XRP Tail…

Ripple News Analysis

How exactly did Bitcoin get to $10,000?

There are myriad factors, of course. But future historians will probably zero in on one thing: The CME’s decision to add Bitcoin futures to their derivatives market.

That decision lit a fuse under Bitcoin. It caused BTC prices to explode past $7,000, giving birth to the momentum that carried Bitcoin to where it is today. Also, avoiding a problematic fork over the SegWit2x proposal helped Bitcoin keep its trajectory.

But what does any of this have to do with Ripple?

Well, imagine if the CME extended its nascent crypto derivatives market to include Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple. What impact would that have on XRP prices?

This is an important consideration in forecasting XRP prices, because Wall Street has a big appetite. It’s unlikely they will be satiated by just Bitcoin, at least not when an entire asset class is ripe for the taking.

Our research suggests that XRP could become a Wall Street favorite.

After all, Ripple is the bank-friendly crypto, the one that hosts conferences with central bank officials and other high-finance luminaries. Even its customers are banks.

More importantly, Ripple lacks interest or support from American investors. The vast majority of trading volume comes from South Korea, in part because XRP is not available through popular U.S. platforms like Coinbase.

However, once Coinbase adds XRP (ETH was added in 2016, LTC in 2017), prices could surge on heightened demand.

The opportunity to front-run that demand would likely appeal to Wall Street. As such, we expect them to pressure the CME and CBOE into expanding their derivatives market beyond just Bitcoin.

XRP Prices Surged 10.55% in 24 Hours

XRP prices gathered steam on Tuesday morning, rising 10.55% against the U.S. dollar. This brought the Ripple to USD exchange rate up to $0.278785. At the same time, the Ripple to Bitcoin rate catapulted up 7.88% to 0.00002824 BTC.

We predicted this earlier in the week. While most analysts were wringing their hands, worrying that XRP was getting left behind, we reminded investors that cryptos rise in a cyclical motion.

Ripple Price Chart:

How Active Are Investors?

Soaring prices are usually preceded by a sharp uptick in demand, and Tuesday’s gains were no exception. XRP trading volumes surged from $196.74 million yesterday to $497.03 million this morning, and are still rising. This 153% increase is largely responsible for the surge in XRP prices.

Ripple has, in the past, struggled to sustain the momentum from these rallies. We expect progress to be haltingly bullish until such time as XRP is added to Coinbase or other prominent U.S. exchanges.

Where Are Investors Trading XRP?

South Korea is still the hottest spot for trading XRP. The bids are generally higher, the volumes are massive, and there is seemingly an endless supply of money. Bithumb was the top exchange, accounting for 48.38% of total volume. It was followed distantly by Coinone and Korbit, two other Korean exchanges that contributed 10.93% and 8.66%, respectively.

Analyst Take:

We firmly maintain our Ripple price prediction for 2018, which sees the XRP price rising past $2.00 on a broader base of investor support.

Also Read: Ripple Price Predictions 2017: XRP Price Could Cross $1 Mark by End of Year