Can XRP Reach $3.40 as Major Bearish Pattern Fails?

This is a daily technical analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.

Imagine a basketball player executing a convincing fake jump shot and holding just before his feet leave the ground. The defender, anticipating a quick shot, jumps prematurely, only to create an opening for the offensive player to drive to the basket or take a wide-open shot.

This analogy mirrors the price action in XRP, where the failure of a major bearish pattern has cleared the way for bulls to take control, opening up the potential for a strong upward move. XRP is used by Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions.

XRP carved out a large head-and-shoulders topping pattern from December to April, signaling an impending transition of the market leadership from the bulls to the bears. The breakdown happened in early April, with prices slipping below the H&S support at $2 and sliding quickly to $1.60.

Several analysts called for an extended sell-off toward $1.20, but prices quickly reversed higher to retake the $2 handle, marking a failed breakdown.

In other words, the bears were trapped like the defender in the basketball analogy. Since then, XRP’s price has continued to rise, topping $2.50 to signal an end to the declining trend from the mid-January high of $3.40.

So, the bulls now have a clear shot (like the basketball attacker) at the January high and perhaps even higher price levels.

The bullish outlook looks even more convincing considering XRP is trading well above its 200-day simple moving average. Moreover, XRP held largely above the average throughout the early April crypto market sell-off when BTC fell as low as under $75,000.

The bullish move is backed by a spike in trading volumes, in a sign of trader confidence in price prospects, according to CoinDesk Research’s AI-assisted technical analysis model.

“A key resistance level at $2.40 was decisively broken with high volume, triggering accelerated buying as the price formed an ascending channel pattern,” the model said. “While AI predictions suggest XRP could reach $2.85 by June 1, some analysts are projecting much higher targets, with price forecasts ranging from $3.33 to as high as $15.”

“Market sentiment remains strongly bullish following Ripple’s court victories against the SEC and post-election optimism under the crypto-friendly Trump administration,” the model added.

Read more: XRP, BTC Among Major Tokens Flashing Signs of Bulls Returning to Crypto