The cryptocurrency market has started the year on a bullish note, with major altcoins like XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL) and ether (ETH) leading the charge. Over the past week, XRP has surged nearly 10%, DOGE has posted an impressive 12% gain while SOL has climbed by over 7% at the time of writing. Despite these significant XRP price movements, data from Glassnode suggests their rally might just be getting started.
XRP funding rates remain neutral
Glassnode’s latest analysis, released on 6 January 2025, reveals that XRP’s perpetual futures funding rates remain neutral at 0.01%. Funding rates, the periodic payments exchanged between long and short traders, are an essential indicator of market sentiment.
Positive funding rates signify bullish sentiment, as traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain long positions. Conversely, neutral funding rates, as seen in XRP’s case, indicate a balanced market environment.
This neutrality implies that the ongoing rally isn’t fueled by excessive leverage. Instead, it shows genuine demand, potentially leading to a more sustainable price recovery.
However, neutral funding rates can also suggest the presence of traders shorting the market. Should these shorts face a sudden squeeze, XRP’s price could witness rapid upward movement, further supporting bullish sentiment.
Moreover, data shared by the leading blockchain analytics firm showed that similar neutral funding rates are observed in other major cryptocurrencies. Per the Monday update, funding rates for Bitcoin (BTC) stood at 0.009%, ETH’s at 0.01%, Dogecoin’s (DOGE) at 0.011%, and SOL’s at 0.006%, despite their recent price gains before the Tuesday dump.
“Despite Bitcoin’s strong rally from $93.5K on Jan 1 to $102.4K today [Tuesday], the Perpetual Funding Rates for the top 5 assets remain below neutral (0.1%). This suggests perpetual markets are lagging behind the current positive market momentum,” Glassnode noted.
Top 5 crypto funding rates. Source: Glassnode
Top analysts predict promising targets for XRP
XRP’s recent performance has caught the attention of prominent analysts, who foresee ambitious price targets. Ali Martinez, a renowned crypto analyst, highlighted in a X post that XRP’s 12-hour supertrend indicator recently flashed a buy signal.
This technical indicator, which identifies market trends and potential entry points, last triggered a buy signal in November 2024. Following that signal, XRP saw a meteoric 470% surge, climbing from $0.5 to $2.9.
If history repeats, Martinez projects that XRP could reach a remarkable $13.85, a significant leap from its current price of approximately $2.43.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt also shared a bullish outlook for XRP on X, forecasting the cryptoasset’s market capitalization to skyrocket to $500 billion in the coming weeks. With the current circulating supply of 57.4 billion coins, this would translate to an XRP price of approximately $8.7. Notably, XRP’s market cap sits around $130 billion at the time of writing.
According to Brandt: “Half mast flags should complete within six weeks, otherwise they should be viewed with great suspicion. This flag in XRP needs to rock and roll soon, otherwise it will likely morph into something else TBD. But if it completes, then market cap of $500B is possible.”
While XRP’s neutral funding rates suggest a measured and sustainable rally, the possibility of a short squeeze and other bearish indicators adds an element of unpredictability for the cryptoasset’s price in the short-term.
On the flip side, combining bullish chart formations like the supertrend signal and rising positive sentiments from market participants, XRP appears poised for further growth in the near term. Recall that XRP Open Interest reached a new and bullish milestone earlier this week when the metric soared above the $2.6 billion mark.
Read also: Implications as XRP Ledger reduces base reserve from 10 XRP to 1
Ndianabasi Tom A Petroleum Engineering degree holder, Ndianabasi’s interest since 2018 has been studying the ever-growing field of blockchain and cryptocurrency, keenly evaluating the innovation, exploration, and expansion of this field locally and globally. The founder of Nitadel a media platform, Ndianabasi has been a Writer at Crypto Asset Buyer (CAB) since 2021. When he is not drilling resources in the blockchain and cryptocurrency field, Ndianabasi is singing, reading, watching crime movies, or playing football.
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