Ripple (XRP) is the best performer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, after adding 5% to its value over the last 24 hours.
The rally allowed XRP to hit the $1.61 level for the first time since February 15.
The remittance token is benefiting from positive market sentiment, with major coins and tokens also trading in the green.
Retail interest in XRP suggests that risk appetite is gradually increasing. However, institutional investors are reducing their exposure to XRP-related investment products.
Renewed retail interest pushes XRP to $1.6
XRP is outperforming the broader crypto market, driven by renewed retail interest.
The coin is up more than 5% over the last 24 hours and briefly touched the $1.61 mark for the first time in over a month.
Thanks to this rally, XRP has overtaken BNB on the CoinMarketCap rankings and is now the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
The move comes amid renewed retail interest in XRP.
According to CoinGlass, XRP’s futures Open Interest (OI) stands at $2.89 billion on Tuesday, up from $2.66 billion recorded the previous day.
For XRP to sustain the ongoing recovery, a robust derivatives market will be essential.
While retail interest has increased, institutional demand has taken a back seat in recent days.
XRP digital asset investment products recorded an outflow of $4.13 million on Monday.
This follows outflows of approximately $30.3 million last week.
Month-to-date outflows total $133 million, bringing assets under management to $2.4 billion.
Furthermore, weak sentiment—reflected in the Fear & Greed Index—and macroeconomic uncertainty amid the Middle East conflict continue to limit interest in XRP-related investment products.
Technical outlook: XRP’s momentum indicators remain bullish
Similar to Bitcoin and Ether, the XRP/USD 4-hour chart remains bearish but efficient.
However, the pair’s near-term outlook remains mildly bullish, with further upward movement expected over the next few hours and days.
Momentum conditions have improved, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the 4-hour chart at 79, approaching overbought territory.
A sustained rebound suggests that bulls have the upper hand.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator remains above its signal line on the same chart, adding further bullish confluence to the pair.
XRP surpassed the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1.50 a few hours ago before testing the $1.61 Fair Value Gap (FVG) on the 4-hour chart.
The 50-day EMA will now serve as the initial support, allowing the bulls to push higher in the near term.
Another support lies at $1.40, with further downside levels near $1.35 and then the recent floor at $1.30, where previous lows cluster and where buyers last responded.
On the upside, if the bulls remain in control and XRP closes its daily candle above the February 15 high (Inducement Liquidity) of $1.67, it could rally towards the Transactional Liquidity (TLQ) at $1.78, its highest level since January 31.
https://invezz.com/news/2026/03/17/xrp-explodes-to-1-61-as-retail-frenzy-sends-it-past-bnb-check-forecast/
