XRP Struggles As Geopolitical Tensions Spur Risk-Off Sentiment: Ripple Continues To Mint RLUDS Stablecoin In Hordes

XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) plunged to a 10-week low Sunday as the cryptocurrency market broke into a sweat over rising tensions in the Middle East.

What happened: The payment-focused coin plunged to an intraday low of $1.91, a level last seen on April 9. Trading volume bumped 64% to $5 billion, indicating high selling pressure.

XRP fell alongside the broader market retreat as the U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel war triggered risk-off sentiment, with investors fearing a larger conflict and a rise in oil prices.

Interestingly, the Commodity Channel Index, which measures the difference between the current price and the historical average price, was negative as of this writing, according to TradingView, signaling an oversold level and a potential “Buy.”

However, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator, which compares an asset's short-term price to its long-term price, flashed a "Sell."

XRP's derivatives market was also spooked, with open interest falling 4.76% in the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass. That said, more than 70% of traders on Binance with open XRP positions were long as of this writing. 

Around 68% of the top XRP trader accounts on Binance were leveraged long, suggesting the possibility of a comeback.

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XRP's correction follows large-scale minting of Ripple Labs' dollar-pegged stablecoin Ripple USD (CRYPTO: RLUSD), worth nearly $430 million in market capitalization as of this writing.

About 13 million RLUSD were minted Saturday on the Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain, according to the Ripple Stablecoin Tracker.

Ripple has been attempting to integrate RLUSD into its operations. Earlier this month, the stablecoin received regulatory approval from the Dubai Financial Services Authority, allowing it to be used as a legal payment mechanism within the Dubai International Financial Centre

Price Action:  At the time of writing, XRP was exchanging hands at $2.01, down 3.18% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. 

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