Ripple Price Forecast: XRP's bullish structure holds up as Ripple turns to Japan for Web3 and DeFi advancement

• XRP bulls eye fourth consecutive day of gains after rebounding from the $2.05 support level tested last week.
• Ripple has partnered with Japan's Web3 Salon project, supported by JETRO, focusing on DeFi, tokenization and payments.
• An increase in XRP futures Open Interest to $4.1 billion indicates improving sentiment and confidence in XRP's price performance.

Ripple (XRP) pared losses following last week's sell-off to trade at around $2.26 at the time of writing on Monday. The sideways trading comes ahead of trade negotiations between the United States (US) and China in London. 

Cryptocurrencies, including major assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), offered bullish signals during previous sessions, implying optimism for a lasting solution to the trade dispute between the two economic giants.

Ripple targets Japan's startup space with DeFi tokenization and payments support 

Ripple has announced a strategic partnership with a Web3 Salon project, backed by JETRO, Japan's External Trade Organization and powered by the Asia Web3 Alliance Japan, a renowned Web3 startup ecosystem.

As part of the collaboration, Ripple has pledged to offer grant funding of up to $200,000 per project over the next year. The development falls under the XRPL Japan and Korea Fund, as well as Ripple's broader $1 billion XRP commitment, designed to offer financial, technical and business development support for startups building on the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

"The funding will be awarded to a select group of early-stage startups based in Japan that are building on the XRPL, particularly in use cases like decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenized real-world assets (RWA), and digital payments," Ripple said in a blog post.

Japan has, over the years, stood out as a global leader in the digital asset industry, fostering regulatory clarity and consumer protection. However, startups often struggle to navigate the highly structured environment. By working hand in hand with Ripple and the strategic Web3 Salon, startups can lower the barrier to entry and speed up development.

Technical outlook: Can XRP's bullish structure accelerate recovery?

XRP's price remains above confluence support established by the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the 100-day EMA, currently at approximately $2.26. 

The path of least resistance is steadying upward at the time of writing, underpinned by a buy signal recently confirmed by the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator. Based on the daily chart below, the blue MACD line crossed above the red signal line on Monday, which significantly increases the probability of a sustainable recovery.

According to the Relative Strength Index (RSI), uptrending above the 50 midline, bulls have the upper hand. Moreover, the RSI has room to move before reaching the overbought territory, indicating that bullish momentum could gain traction in upcoming sessions and days.

XRP/USD daily chart

A daily close above the confluence support at $2.26 would go a long way in affirming the strength of the uptrend. Should the trade talks between top US and Chinese officials provide a path to a long-term agreement between the two economic powerhouses, traders would consider expanding their bullish scope to $2.28 and $ 2.65, the resistances that were tested on May 14 and May 23, respectively.

Meanwhile, data from the derivatives market shows a notable increase in the XRP futures Open Interest (OI) to $4.1 billion, up from $3.69 billion on Sunday. 

XRP futures Open Interest | Source: CoinGlass

If the XRP price sustains the uptrend, along with the increase in open interest (OI) this week amid improving sentiment, trader conviction and market optimism, a 30% increase from the current price level could be on the cards.