Crypto analyst Ali Martinez highlighted this optimistic outlook in a Jan. 21 X post, where he speculated a short-term price target of $4.40 for XRP.
According to Martinez, XRP recently broke out of a bull flag pattern—an indication that bullish momentum may continue in the near term. This breakout aligns with strong technical signals pointing to further upward movement.
This short-term prediction follows an even more ambitious target shared by the analyst in an earlier post.
Martinez had previously highlighted XRP’s breakout from a symmetrical triangle pattern on the monthly chart, a development he views as another bullish indicator. Based on this long-term formation, the analyst predicts XRP could rally as high as $15.
Hopes of regulatory clarity
Ripple’s (XRP) rally could be supported by growing anticipation within the community that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission might drop its appeal against Ripple in which it claimed the company was offering unregistered securities.
The XRP community expects that such a scenario is highly possible Under President Donald Trump, who took office yesterday and has nominated pro-crypto Paul Atkins as the replacement for anti-crypto SEC chief Gary Gensler.
Proponents are also lining their hopes on the approval of a spot exchange-traded fund listing for XRP, with a Polymarket poll showing a 73% chance of it being approved in 2025.
Additionally, rumors that Trump might exempt U.S.-based cryptocurrencies, like XRP, from capital gains tax and possibly include altcoins in a strategic crypto reserve have also gained strength. Platforms like CoinGecko have already published new categories for top U.S-based cryptocurrencies, which has further instilled confidence among traders.
Meanwhile, whales have taken an interest, likely due to current optimism around the token. (See below.)
Data from Santiment also shows a spike in XRP whale transactions over the last 7 days.
Further, net outflows for the token from centralized exchanges over the past 2 days, have also surged, meaning more investors were acquiring the token with expectations of future price appreciation.
Bullish momentum around XRP is also backed by the broader growth of the Ripple ecosystem, including the launch of its USD-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, which has seen an uptick in adoption. When writing, the stablecoin held a 24-hour trading volume higher than other prominent stablecoins like DAI, TUSD, and PYUSD.
Additionally, Ripple-based meme coins have also become some of the best-performing assets in the sector.
The native token of the XRPLedger has risen roughly 46% since the beginning of 2025, exchanging hands at $3.05, while its market cap stood at over $175 billion, cementing its place as the third-largest crypto asset by market cap, per data from CoinGecko.
XRP technical analysis
On the daily XRP/USDT price chart, the MACD line continues to be above the signal line suggesting that the bullish trend will persist in the upcoming days. This paired with the Supertrend indicator confirms that the asset is currently facing buying pressure from bulls.
The Aroon indicator shows the Aroon Up at 64.29% while the Aroon Down was at 7.14% indicating that the uptrend still holds significant strength while the Relative Strength Index at 64 suggests there is still room for the asset’s growth before hitting overbought levels upon which XRP may see a small pullback before resuming its upswing.
Based on these indicators, XRP could potentially break through the next psychological resistance at $3.50 and enter price discovery, potentially moving towards Ali’s target of $4.40 if the bullish momentum intensifies.
