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$XRP has risen nearly 4% over the past 24 hours to trade near $1.44 on Sept. 21, extending its seven-day gain as whales have started accumulating the altcoin.
According to CoinGecko, $XRP traded between roughly $1.37 and $1.44 over the past day, with buyers pushing the token back above $1.40 before the price approached the upper end of its intraday range.
Bitcoin climbed above $81,800 earlier in the day and has gained more than 5% over the past week, while total crypto market capitalisation rose roughly 1.7%.
Bitcoin dominance eased slightly as several major altcoins gained alongside $XRP.
$XRP has outperformed the total market during the latest session, with large holders accumulating tokens during its recovery from the $1.24 to $1.26 area.
Santiment figures shared by analyst Ali Martinez indicate that the tracked whale cohort accumulated roughly 1.54 billion $XRP over 96 hours.
The tokens were worth close to $2.2 billion, taking the group's combined holdings to approximately 9.81 billion $XRP.
Simultaneously, CryptoQuant recorded roughly 1.6 billion $XRP flowing into Binance over a rolling 30-day period, the highest amount since March.
Development activity on the $XRP Ledger has provided a second $XRP-specific catalyst.
$XRP Ledger is moving closer to its next network upgrade as validators build support for the Batch V1.1 amendment.
The proposal currently has backing from 30 of 35 tracked validators, exceeding the 28 votes required to meet the network's 80% threshold.
The amendment entered its majority countdown on Sept. 15 and could activate around Sept. 29 if support remains above the required threshold.
RippleX has indicated that asset managers and commercial projects are preparing to use Batch, although the firms involved have not been disclosed.
Potential applications identified by RippleX include delivery versus payment and exchange fee transactions, giving institutions a way to coordinate several actions within a single operation.
At the same time, institutional demand through US spot $XRP exchange traded funds remains substantial on a cumulative basis.
The products have attracted roughly $1.7 billion in cumulative net inflows, with net assets standing near $1.39 billion as of Sept. 17.
$XRP price analysis
$XRP's daily price has recovered to roughly $1.44 after falling as low as the $1.24 to $1.26 region earlier this month.
The rebound has taken the price above all four exponential moving averages on the daily chart. See below.
$XRP/$USDT 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView.
The 20-day EMA stands near $1.368, while the 200 day EMA sits around $1.356. $XRP trading above both levels leaves the $1.35 to $1.37 area as an important support zone if the current recovery pulls back.
The 50-day EMA is lower at roughly $1.303, with the 100-day EMA near $1.268.
A drop through $1.35 would therefore bring $1.30 into focus, followed by the $1.27 area where the 100-day EMA sits close to $XRP's recent swing low.
Buying pressure has not recovered as quickly as price. The Chaikin Money Flow reading remains slightly negative at around minus 0.05 after falling below zero during the recent pullback.
CMF has started rising from its latest low, but a move above zero would be needed to show that net capital flow has turned positive again.
The 20-day Donchian Channel places its upper boundary near $1.496, with the midpoint around $1.371 and lower boundary near $1.247.
$XRP/$USDT 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView.
$XRP is trading in the upper half of the channel and is now less than 4% below its upper boundary.
A daily close above the $1.45 area would leave the Donchian ceiling near $1.50 as the next immediate target.
Clearing $1.50 could open the way towards the recent spike area around $1.54 to $1.55, while rejection near the channel high would keep $1.37 as the first major level to watch on a pullback.
Aroon Up is currently around 64.3%, compared with Aroon Down at 50%.
The higher Aroon Up reading favours the recent recovery, although neither line is at an extreme that would confirm a firmly established directional move.
Liquidation positioning places a large concentration of leveraged positions immediately above $XRP's current price.
The Binance $XRP/$USDT 24 hour liquidation heatmap shows liquidity clustered around $1.45, with further pockets extending towards $1.47. See below.
$XRP 24-hour liquidation heatmap. Source: Coinglass.
Below the market, liquidation concentrations are visible around $1.39 and $1.38, while a larger band sits near $1.36 to $1.37.
A move through $1.45 could therefore take $XRP towards the liquidity between $1.45 and $1.47 before the Donchian upper boundary near $1.50 comes into play.
Failure to hold $1.38 would instead expose the $1.36 to $1.37 region, where the 20-day and 200-day EMAs sit alongside a sizeable liquidation cluster.
A break below that area would bring the 50-day EMA near $1.30 back into focus.