XRP price extended its gains on March 9, rising around 1.5% to $0.40, despite a general downturn in the crypto market.
XRP price is on a four-day upward streak
The rally in the XRP/USD pair began on March 5 with the XRP market capitalization gaining more than 10% in the last four days.
Instead, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen by around 5% in the same period, with the top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) losing 4.5% and 4%, respectively.
Ripple achieves early victory against SEC
XRP’s gains come as investors pin their hopes on Ripple winning its long court battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On March 6, US District Judge Analisa Torres issued a ruling on motions filed by Ripple and the SEC to exclude expert witness comment from the upcoming summary judgment. She approved and denied the motions in part, stressing that there is no clear winner and loser on the issue.
However, the removal of the so-called “No. 1 Expert”, Patrick Doody, whom the SEC recruited as its main witness to testify about the perceptions of a reasonable buyer of XRP, led XRP market participants to believe that Ripple could end up winning the lawsuit.
@SECGov vs. @Ripple . Judge Torres excludes witness #1 witness Patrick Doody (expert hired to analyze our expectations as #XRPHolders ) . How will the SEC prove that we expected a profit if Doody is excluded? Don’t sleep on this ruling, this is a big deal. #XRP
—RippleEffect (@CommonsenseXRP) March 7, 2023
In other words, the SEC’s argument that Ripple sold XRP as an unregistered security to gullible investors may fall under its own weight.
As Cointelegraph reported in January, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said he expects the lawsuit to conclude “in the next few months in single digits.”
Is a 35% Rise Looming for the XRP Price?
From a technical perspective, XRP price may risk lower in the coming weeks as it retests a multi-month downtrend line for resistance.
The trend line has served as the capitulation point for traders since April 2021, increasing their possibility of sending the XRP price lower in the current scenario. A successful pullback could push XRP towards $0.30, a more recent support level that is down 20% from current price levels.
Conversely, a break above the trend line may result in XRP price rallying towards its 200-3D exponential moving average (200-3D EMA; the blue wave) near $0.50, 35% higher than current price levels, in April 2023.
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