XRP Price Prediction: XRP back above $2 liquidating $18M in short positions, will the rally continue?

• XRP reclaims the crucial $2 level as President Trump makes a classic U-turn on reciprocal tariffs.
• Massive liquidations hit short-position traders as cryptocurrencies rebounded on Thursday.
• A spike in open interest per Coinglass data signals heightened activity and growing bullish sentiment.

Ripple (XRP) seeks support above $2.0020 on Thursday after gaining 14% in the past 24 hours. The token trades at $2.0007 at the time of writing, reflecting growing bullish sentiment across global markets. This surge has clawed back losses that extended from below $2.0000 down to the Monday low of $1.6128 as global markets digested the impact of reciprocal tariffs announced by United States (US) President Donald Trump on April 2.

XRP recovery liquidates short traders

XRP price rebound from the Monday low signifies the resilience of the crypto market, considering over $1 billion was wiped off the market in liquidations at the start of the week. Trump’s incessant push for reciprocal tariffs had squeezed market liquidity, leaving most investors paralyzed. 

However, the President made a stunning U-turn on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the announced tariffs kicked in, extending relief to dozens of countries and handing global markets a new lifeline, as reported by FXStreet. The relief traversed Asian markets on Thursday, including Chinese stocks, despite Trump escalating the tariff war with China. 

Cryptocurrencies generally recovered in the late American session on Wednesday and into the Asian session on Thursday. Bitcoin hit a daily high of $83,541 before correcting to $82,433 at the time of writing. 

Altcoins, led by the most prominent smart contracts token, Ethereum (ETH), responded positively to the new lifeline, which has been increasing from the persistent dips since April 2. Ether has gained 13.7% to hover at $1,613, while BNB soars to trade at $574 in the late Asian session.

According to Coinglass data, the international money transfer token has posted an impressive 6.68% increase in derivatives open interest (OI) to $3.05 billion. Meanwhile, the XRP options volume rallied 21.36% to $7,670. 

Following the massive liquidations on Monday, which battered long-position traders the most, President Trump’s tariff U-turn caught short-position traders by surprise, liquidating $18 million. $24.16 million has been liquidated in the last 24 hours, implying that $6.16 million in long positions had been forcefully closed.

XRP derivatives analysis data | Source: Coinglass

A spike in OI implies that the number of outstanding contracts or options is increasing, which translates to a spike in the inflow of money. It signals heightened activity and a growing bullish sentiment. Therefore, if this trend continues in the next few days, XRP may gain momentum above $2.0000 and increase the chances of a breakout to the next key resistance at $2.5000.

XRP about to flash a buy signal

The recovery from the Monday low of $1.6128 to highs above $2.0000 in the last 24 hours makes XRP attractive to long traders, especially with the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator’s likelihood of sending a buy signal. However, a daily close above $2.0000 will protect these gains and possibly encourage traders to seek more exposure to XRP. Traders may want to watch out for the MACD line (blue) crossing above the signal line (red) to validate the uptrend.

XRP/USD daily price chart

The 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) is slightly below the $2.0000 level at $1.9485. Holding above this second immediate support would further affirm the bullish grip. 

Still, the ever-looming macroeconomic risk tied to President Trump’s unpredictable tariff policy remains a concern. It’s shifting constantly, leaving traders on edge and pushing them to make smarter moves—like using dollar-cost averaging or other risk management tools to safeguard their capital.

Declines below the support shown in green may open the door to losses targeting the dotted lines around $0.4500, an area last tested in November 2024.