Ripple’s XRP, currently the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency as measured by CoinMarketCap, has suddenly leaped higher in a surge powered by WallStreetBets traders.
XRP, a digital token created by the embattled San Francisco-based company Ripple, has added more than 50% to its price over the last 24 hours, climbing after dogecoin, a tongue-in-cheek “joke” bitcoin rival named by Elon Musk as his “fav” cryptocurrency, crashed—losing over half its recent gains.
Ripple’s XRP is the second cryptocurrency to suddenly pump this week, after dogecoin’s huge meme-fuelled rally briefly sent its price almost 1,000% higher (though there has been speculation bitcoin could emulate GameStop’s recent short squeeze).
Ripple’s XRP, a top five cryptocurrency, has suddenly broken out–adding more than 50% to its value … [+]
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Dogecoin and XRP have surged this week as retail traders organized via Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum and groups on Telegram and Discord have colluded to “pump and dump” the digital tokens.
Members of one Telegram group that has over 100,000 people in it have named XRP as a cryptocurrency to buy.
“Focus on XRP,” wrote one Telegram group member. “Please buy and hold.”
Traders turned to cryptocurrencies this week after a long-running battle between bullish retail traders organised via Reddit’s WallStreetBets and Wall Street hedge funds that have long been shorting GameStop shares reached its climax—with regulators and brokerages trying to calm frantic markets with heavy-handed restrictions.
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The bitcoin price, after dipping under $30,000 per bitcoin this week, suddenly leaped 20% higher after Musk changed his Twitter bio to “#bitcoin” and posted: “In retrospect, it was inevitable.”
The price of Ripple’s XRP has shot up by around 50% over the last 24 hours as organized traders pile … [+]
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However, despite XRP’s more than 50% rally, traders don’t think it will reach the kind of short-term gains seen by dogecoin—though it could have further to run before its peak.
“Buying XRP at these prices, while its future hangs in the balance, is a pure gamble,” veteran trader and author of The Crypto Trader, Glen Goodman, said via Twitter DM. “The WallStreetBets crowd could easily push it a lot higher, but the moment they lose interest and move on to a different target, the price is sure to collapse again.”
“I don’t expect XRP’s pump to be as big as dogecoin’s this week, though it will end up with a blowoff,” said cryptocurrency trader and economist Alex Krüger, speaking via Telegram. “XRP is harder to move as it has a much larger market capitalization than dogecoin but I presume they could take it up to $0.75-$1.00.”
Krüger also warned that, unlike with GameStop, there are “no hedge funds short-selling doge, so it is not liquidated hedge funds who provide the exit liquidity, but latecomers who are left holding the bag,” adding: “How many doge stocks ‘investors’ will realize they fell for one of the largest pump and dumps in history?”