How will Ripple’s latest legal battle affect XRP’s price?

• Did Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse mislead investors? Judge sets SEC’s case against Ripple for trial
• Market sentiment remains optimistic over XRP’s future

Ripple Labs has repeatedly hit the headlines over its legal battles with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the years. It’s in the news again after a judge in California ruled that a civil securities lawsuit against the blockchain firm will go to trial, allowing a jury to decide if Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse made misleading statements in 2017.

According to reports, the court denied in part Ripple’s counterclaims, with the defendants hoping for a full dismissal of the case. 

Is XRP a security?

The court’s decision to proceed to trial leaves a big question on the classification of XRP as a security. Especially since Judge Phyllis Hamilton showed a willingness to to not follow the legal opinion of Judge Analisa Torres in New York. 

Ripple’s legal battles and market speculation

As expected, this development has spurred rumours that XRP’s price may soon be adversely affected on the charts. In fact, there is good precedent for the same too.

Consider this – Back in December 2020, the SEC charged Ripple execs Garlinghouse and Larsen over securities violations involving XRP transactions. The charges claimed the the two executives conducted a $1.3B unregistered securities offering.

After charges were brought against Ripple, XRP was hit by a drastic price decline, with the altcoin falling by as much as +40%. However, after the charges were dropped on 20 October 2023, the crypto appreciated again. Simply put, Ripple’s legal proceedings and XRP’s legal status have a significant impact on market sentiment and XRP’s price action.  

Hence, it’s worth looking at what to expect now.

Source: Coinglass

Despite Ripple’s legal woes, XRP’s market sentiment has remained optimistic. AMBCrypto’s analysis of Open Interest data from Coinglass indicated positive sentiment across the charts. XRP reported an Open Interest value of $557.4 million at press time – A sign of greater interest, meaning traders are opening position that are spurring trading volume.

Source: Coinglass

Equally, Coinglass data revealed that trading volume has been increasing too. At press time, the volume stood at $557M, with the same recording a substantial hike from 15 June. Increased volume and higher Open Interest imply the market is still optimistic about XRP.

Source: XRP/USD, TradingView

At press time, XRP was trading at $0.4928, following a decline of 1.34% in 24 hours. AMBCrypto’s analysis also suggested that XRP seemed well positioned to surge to $0.549 in the short term and hike to $0.644.

XRP has to break out of the resistance level of around $0.527 to achieve the aforementioned optimistic market view. However, if it fails to respect the support level of around $0.46, it will decline to the lower level of around $0.43.