XRP price slowly forms a bullish pattern: can Ripple hit $5

The XRP price is slowly forming a highly bullish pattern that could lead to a strong breakout in the near term.

Ripple (XRP) was trading at $2.4 on Dec. 13, up by 28% above the lowest level this week, and a few points below the year-to-date high of $2.90.

XRP price is forming a bullish flag

The daily chart shows that Ripple is slowly forming a highly bullish pattern that may lead to a strong comeback in the next few days. 

It is forming a bullish flag pattern, which is characterized by a long vertical line and a rectangle-like formation. In this case, the flag started forming in late October and concluded in November. It has been forming the flag section since Dec. 2.

In most periods, an asset tends to have a strong rebound when the flag pattern concludes. In XRP’s case, the breakout will be concluded when it rises above the descending channel. 

XRP also formed a hammer pattern on Dec. 10, whose lower side was at $1.9690, which was along the 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement point. A hammer is made up of a long lower shadow and a small body, and is a popular bullish reversal pattern.

There are also signs that Ripple is in the Elliot corrective wave, which follows the impulse wave. It has also remained above the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages.

Therefore, the XRP price has more room to run. A move above the upper side of the flag at $2.90 will confirm the bullish view. The first point to watch after that will be the psychological point at $3, followed by $5.

Potential catalysts for Ripple

Ripple faces numerous catalysts ahead. First, there are signs that XRP whales are accumulating the token. According to CryptoQuant, whale activity jumped to an all-time high, signaling that big investors have embraced it.

Second, Ripple Labs has received approval from New York’s regulators to launch the RLUSD stablecoin. The developers have hinted that the stablecoin will be launched soon. While it is too early to determine whether it will be successful, the launch will likely attract hype from investors.

Third, there is a chance that the XRP Ledger will start seeing traction among developers. Data shows that the network has over $63.5 million in assets, a figure that will keep growing.

Further, and most importantly, Ripple will likely have an ETF now that Donald Trump has pledged to be a crypto-friendly president. All these factors could lead to more XRP price gains in the near term.