XRP price slowly forms a bullish pattern, pointing to an eventual rebound as whales buy and negotiations with Circle continue.

Ripple (XRP) was trading at $2.33 on Tuesday, down 12% from its highest point this week.

In a turbulent cryptocurrency market, Ripple (XRP) has been slowly forming a bullish pattern, which could lead to an eventual rebound.

After reaching a high of $2.65 on Friday, XRP price fell by 12% to trade at $2.33 on Tuesday.

On-chain data shows that whales have continued buying the coin as it experiences several key catalysts. One of these is the ongoing negotiations for Ripple Labs to acquire Circle, the creator of USD Coin (USDC).

A Circle buyout would propel Ripple Labs into becoming the second-biggest player in the stablecoin industry. It would also make Ripple the third most profitable crypto project after Tether (USDT) and Tron (TRX).

A Circle buyout would propel Ripple Labs into becoming the second-biggest player in the stablecoin industry. It would also make Ripple the third most profitable crypto project after Tether (USDT) and Tron (TRX).

TokenTerminal data shows that Circle has made $1.58 billion this year.

TokenTerminal data shows that Circle has made $1.58 billion this year.

The integration would also help to complement Ripple USD (RLUSD), its recently-launched stablecoin, which has a market cap of over $313 million.

Another top XRP catalyst is the growing demand for Ripple assets on Wall Street. For example, eleven companies have applied for a spot XRP ETF, more than Solana’s seven.

Another top XRP catalyst is the growing demand for Ripple assets on Wall Street. For example, eleven companies have applied for a spot XRP ETF, more than Solana’s seven.

Earlier this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first two spot crypto ETFs, focusing on Bitcoin (BTC) from WisdomTree and Invesco. However, both companies later pulled out their applications.

Later, the agency approved the first two spot crypto ETFs, focusing on Bitcoin (BTC) from WisdomTree and Invesco. Both companies later pulled out their applications.

Recently, Teucrium launched its 2X ETF, ticker XXRP, which has now gained over $106 million in assets.

CME Group has also launched new regulated XRP futures, opening them to US investors. There are chances that one or more companies will offer ETFs to track these futures.

Polymarket data shows that the odds of a spot XRP ETF approval have risen to over 80% this year. With XXRP fund having substantial inflows, there is a likelihood that these funds will also have demand from Wall Street investors.

In the past week, XRP news also saw a major development as the United Arab Emirates-based Zand Bank announced an integration with Ripple for cross-border payments.

Announced on Tuesday, the integration will see the bank’s customers in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries gain access to fast and low-cost cross-border payments in various currencies.

The integration comes shortly after Mamo, a leading payments and foreign exchange solutions provider in the Middle East and North Africa, announced a partnership with Ripple to facilitate cross-border payments.

Together, these partnerships will help Ripple grow its market share against Swift, which handles over $150 trillion in annual payments.

Rising interest in XRP

These catalysts help explain why whales have continued buying XRP tokens.

These catalysts help explain why whales have continued buying XRP tokens.

Data by Santiment shows that wallets holding between 1 million and 10 million tokens now hold over 6 billion tokens.

Those holding between 100 million and 1 billion coins have increased their collective XRP holdings to 9.74 billion tokens, up from 8.16 billion in April.

As seen in the chart above, there has also been a decrease in the number of tokens held by wallets with less than 10,000 tokens. This indicates that smaller investors are exiting their positions.

Technical analysis

The daily chart shows that XRP price is wobbling and has retested the 50-day Exponential Moving Average at $2.2850. It has also formed an inverse head and shoulders pattern, with the neckline at $2.5812.

The coin has already completed the formation of the head and shoulders structure and only needs to move above the neckline.

A move above the neckline at $2.5812 will point to more gains, potentially to the year-to-date high of $3.40, up by 45% from the current level. A drop below the psychological point at $2 will invalidate the bullish outlook.