Ripple XRP has provided three opportunities to engage bullish speculators, the hammer candlestick support on April 23, the inverse head-and-shoulders pattern breakout on April 30, and yesterday’s emergence from an XRP bullish cup-with-handle base. In all, Ripple price has assembled a substantial foundation to build a long-duration advance.

Yesterday, Ripple price broke out from a bullish cup-with-handle base, allowing new price speculators to capitalize on a timely entry price. Unfortunately, the breakout mildly pulled back XRP into the base, forcing speculators to practice patience as Ripple price clarifies intentions.

XRP price strikes bullish posture in the legal anxiety

The reversal back into the base triggered a longstanding trading rule: the pullback-plus-four. It specifically states that speculators need to give the digital asset four days to trade above the breakout pattern high. A failure to do so augments the probability that Ripple price will decline or evolve into a more complex pattern. 

At the moment of writing, the XRP bullish thesis remains active, with the first notable resistance arriving at the convergence of the April high at a price of $1.96, the psychologically important $2.00, and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the 2018-2020 bear market at $2.08.

The measured move target of the cup-with-handle base is $3.16, generating an XRP gain of 90% from the handle's high price of $1.66. A rally of this significance would position Ripple price to target at least the 2018 all-time high at a price of $3.30.

Speculators should turn defensive if the Ripple price fails to rally above the breakout high of $1.76 within four days, starting with today. A decline below the handle low price of $1.31 immediately places Ripple in a vulnerable technical position, signifying a complex bottoming process or even a plunge to the April low at a price of $0.874.

XRP price has withstood the legal gyrations to be one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies since the April price low, displaying noteworthy speculator demand. Similarly, the explosion higher for the XRP/BTC affirms that the returns have been strong on an absolute basis and a relative basis.

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