XRP Price Forecast: DeFi Expansion on XRPL Meets Critical $1.54 Test

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$XRP is trading at $1.4284 on April 17, down 1.73% on the day but up 6.4% over the week, outperforming Bitcoin, Ether, and BNB. Meanwhile, XRPL validators have begun voting on two amendments that will introduce native lending and pooled asset vaults to the ledger.

$XRP breaks out of wedge as three EMAs fall below price

Daily XRP price action (Source: TradingView)

The descending wedge from the August peak near $3.80 broke to the upside this week. Price at $1.4284 has moved above the wedge resistance and now trades above the 20-day EMA ($1.3740) and 50-day EMA ($1.4086), while SAR at $1.3070 sits well below as support. The 100-day EMA at $1.5482 and 200-day EMA at $1.8001 remain the next resistance levels.

All four EMAs are compressed into a tight cluster between $1.3740 and $1.8001, with the current price sitting between the 50-day and 100-day levels. A daily close above $1.5482 would confirm continuation and open the path to the $1.80 supply zone. A breakdown below the 50-day EMA ($1.4086) would target the 20-day EMA ($1.3740), followed by SAR ($1.3070) as the last support before re-entering the wedge.

Key levels for April 18:

SAR support: $1.3070
20-day EMA: $1.3740
50-day EMA: $1.4086
100-day EMA: $1.5482
200-day EMA: $1.8001
Supply zone 1: $1.80
Supply zone 2: $2.40
Supply zone 3: $3.20

XRPL Validators Vote on Native Lending: What XLS-65 and XLS-66 Do

XRPL validators have opened voting on XLS-65 and XLS-66, two amendments introducing native lending and pooled vaults to the XRP Ledger. XLS-66 enables fixed-term, uncollateralized loans from pooled liquidity, with credit scoring handled off-chain rather than via smart contracts. XLS-65 builds the vault infrastructure, aggregating liquidity from multiple providers into lending operations.

Testing showed no issues. Fig, co-founder of Squid Router, ran both upgrades through deposit, loan, withdrawal, and repayment scenarios on Devnet and found no flaws in protocol, design, or security. His conclusion: the math is sound and resistant to manipulation. The Squid UNL validator voted “yes” on both proposals.

VS1 Finance, the team behind the amendments, is already using the framework for bond tokenization on XRPL. Both proposals require majority validator consensus to be activated on the network.

XRP Derivatives: Longs Under Pressure as Options Volume Jumps 176%

XRP derivatives data (Source: Coinglass)

Trading volume rose 50.38% to $4.75B, while open interest (OI) increased 3.05% to $2.70B, indicating new positioning rather than position closures. The long/short ratio at 0.9853 remains neutral overall, though Binance (2.1486) and OKX (1.82) accounts lean long.

Liquidation data shows direction. Shorts saw $5.27M in liquidations over 24 hours versus $2.44M for longs, indicating stronger pressure on short positions during XRP’s rise. Options volume surged 176.52% to $6.02M, while options OI rose 6.24% to $57.46M, reflecting active positioning ahead of a potential move toward the 100-day EMA.

XRP Price Forecast for April 18

Bullish case: A daily close above the 100-day EMA ($1.5482) confirms the wedge breakout and opens the path to $1.80. XRPL lending amendments strengthen the DeFi narrative and institutional appeal.

Bearish case: Volume remains muted. A breakdown below the 50-day EMA ($1.4086) could send price to $1.3740, while a close below SAR ($1.3070) would invalidate the breakout and expose the February low near $1.15.

See also: "A trader increased his deposit more than 1000x in a day thanks to staking — how is this possible?"

#Forecast #XRP (XRP) #Analitycs

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