XRP plunges to $0.50, wipes out recent gains as Ripple community debates ETHgate impact

• XRP lost all gains since April 22 and corrected to $0.50, early on Monday, ahead of SEC filing of opposition brief. 
• XRP community debated the ETHgate controversy, how the alleged Ethereum free pass negatively affected the altcoin. 
• Ripple CTO David Schwartz slammed ETH co-founder Charles Hoskinson for separating ETHgate argument from SEC litigation on Ripple. 

Ripple (XRP) loses all gains from the past seven days, trading at $0.50 early on Monday. XRP holders have their eyes peeled for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing of opposition brief to Ripple’s motion to strike expert testimony. 

In March, the regulator had offered new expert testimony in its opening brief, asking for an injunction (a court order restricting an entity from certain actions) from selling XRP to institutional investors. 

The ETHgate controversy, a conspiracy theory that Ethereum received a free pass from US regulators has resurfaced. Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Schwartz debated its impact on the litigation against the payment remittance firm. 

Daily Digest Market Movers: SEC to file its response to Ripple’s opposition brief on April 29

• The SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit has emerged as one of the key catalysts influencing XRPLedger’s native token XRP’s price. 
• XRP holders are therefore awaiting key litigation from the SEC, on April 29. 
• The regulator offered new expert testimony when supporting its arguments for punitive damages (a payment that a guilty defendant needs to pay on top of compensatory damages) and an injunction, in March. 
• The SEC asked the court for an injunction to prohibit the payment remittance firm from selling XRP to institutional investors. 
• The ETHgate conspiracy theory that implies the SEC allegedly gave Ethereum a free pass while taking legal action against Ripple, has resurfaced on social media platforms. 
• An XRP community member and proponent, X handle @XRPcryptowolf, called out Ethereum and Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson and said XRP holders were correct all along. The XRP army member referred to Hoskinson’s take on the ETHgate conspiracy. 
• Hoskinson referred to the controversy as “never ending and devoid of reason,” the Ethereum co-founder admitted that many members of the XRP community believe that ETH community members bribed the SEC to “take out” XRP. 
• Ripple CTO David Schwartz asked Hoskinson whether William Hinman(former SEC director of the Division of Corporation Finance from 2017 to 2020) was not involved and whether he had a financial interest in Ethereum. 
• Hoskinson tried to limit the ETHgate debate to a conspiracy theory while Schwartz alleged that former SEC executive William Hinman’s interest in his law firm influenced factors that affected the litigation against Ripple. 

• William Hinman, retired as partner at the firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, prior to his term at the SEC. 

Technical analysis: XRP at $0.50, sidelined traders could re-enter

Ripple is exchanging hands at $0.50, early on Monday. The altcoin has erased recent gains from the past seven days. There were two confirmed (confirmed by RSI drop to oversold zone) high momentum breakouts on April 12 and April 13, as seen in the XRP/USDT 1-day chart. This offered sidelined traders the opportunity to enter, with the first entry at $0.50, second at $0.4786 (close of April 13) and the third at $0.4188 (low of April 13 candlestick). 

For traders who missed this setup previously, the opportunity presents itself again, with XRP back at $0.50. A bullish trend reversal is likely as the altcoin dipped into the oversold zone on the Connors RSI indicator, on two instances, mapped out in the chart. 

Connors RSI (CRSI) is a composite of the Relative Strength Index (RSI), UpDown Length, and Rate-of-Change. The momentum oscillator ranges from 0 to 100, and is used to identify overbought and oversold conditions of an asset. An oversold condition is typically considered a “buy signal” when combined with high momentum breakouts in price. 

The bullish target is 22.5% gains from $0.50, the upper boundary of the trend-following indicator, the Donchian Channel at $0.62. The channel is useful to identify breakouts on either side to trigger an entry.

XRP/USDT 1-day chart

A daily candlestick close below the April 20 low of $0.49 (acted as support for the past nine days) could invalidate the bullish thesis for XRP price. The April 20 low of $0.49, April 14 low of $0.46 could act as support levels for XRP.