After a brief attempt to climb above its strong resistance level at $0.30 earlier this week, XRP faced a strong and swift rejection and is now moving down towards its monthly lows that currently sit around $0.26. This bearishness has come about in the midst of Ripple’s highly anticipated Swell event, and as the Ripple CEO announced fresh deals involving XRP that, according to him, have made the XRP network “stronger than ever.”

XRP Plummets 6% as Bears Take Control

At the time of writing, XRP is trading down nearly 6% at its of $0.27, which marks a significant retrace from its daily highs of roughly $0.30.

Earlier this week, XRP’s bulls attempted to propel the cryptocurrency past $0.31, which ultimately proved to be a fleeting move that was closely followed by today’s bearish movement.

It is important to note that XRP is not alone in facing mounting selling pressure today, as Bitcoin has similarly faced a sharp sell-off that sent it plunging from the lower-$9,000 region to lows of $8,800.

BTC’s drop instantly sent shockwaves through the aggregated crypto market and has led virtually all major altcoins to post similar losses. For XRP, it is important to note that this bearishness came about shortly after it had attempted to validate a long-term bottom formation that analysts had been closely watching, which means that today’s move invalidated this bullish possibility and may spell trouble for its near-term price action. Peter Brandt, a highly regarded analyst, recently pointed to this since-invalidated formation, saying:

“This chart interpretation remains valid — $XRP is taking another run at a breakout.”

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This chart interpretation remains valid — is taking another run at a breakout. — Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt)

Ripple Expands Network, But Investors Aren’t Impressed

XRP’s ongoing drop has come about concurrently with Ripple’s Swell event, where the company announced that they already have over , with over two dozen utilizing XRP-related products.

Brad Garlinghouse – Ripple’s CEO – spoke about this in a recent tweet, explaining that the network is “stronger than ever” and continuing to grow.

“Good things come in 3s – at our 3rd annual Swell event we announced @Ripple has more than 300 customers, more than 2 dozen of which are using #XRP through On-Demand Liquidity. The network is stronger than ever, and momentum behind ODL is only beginning,” he explained.

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Good things come in 3s – at our 3rd annual Swell event we announced has more than 300 customers, more than 2 dozen of which are using through On-Demand Liquidity. The network is stronger than ever, and momentum behind ODL is only beginning. — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse)

Clearly, however, investors are not impressed by Ripple’s progress in building utility around XRP, as it has been one of the worst performing major altcoins in 2019, and only time will tell as to whether or not the company’s progress will ultimately be reflected in XRP’s price.

Featured image from Shutterstock.