Elliott Wave find: XRP’s multi-touch support at $1.88 sets the stage for an explosive move towards $5.85.
The recent market pullback has quietly pushed the overall crypto market cap below $3 trillion on Tuesday, followed by a slight rebound for most major-caps. In Ripple’s (XRP) case, the price movement on December 16, 2025 has shown convincing signs that the OG altcoin has completed Wave 4 on the Elliott Wave theory.
This trading setup measures historical data with the current XRP price trends, enabling a trader to determine the logical boundaries of the next bull run. Dark Defender, a popular XRP charter, jumped in to offer their X audience a glimpse into where Wave 5 could take XRP, but this theory is applicable only on one condition.
XRP’s Price Must Defend This Support Area Now
XRP’s domination above the $1.87 – $1.88 support area is crucial, as a daily close below this range could induce further sell action by crypto whales, also wiping out numerous bullish leveraged positions. If this line is defended like last December, Dark Defender forecasts XRP’s Wave 5 to take the OG altcoin on a journey to $5.85.
Unchartered territory, but possible if Ripple’s bulls would push the native coin to triple in market valuation. Currently at $115,387,637,562, XRP is dancing around the $1.90 support level. A jump to $5.85, which is $2.20 higher than XRP’s all-time price record, would take a market cap of nearly $300 billion, hypothetically matching XRP with Ethereum (ETH).
Are Other XRP Metrics Aligning With Wave 5?
In spite of the substantial figures in crypto adoption and the regulatory wins this year, Ripple’s native XRP coin is now struggling to bounce back above $2. The current XRP price architecture is trading considerably below both decisive moving averages, the Exponential & Smoothed Moving Averages, depicted in the chart below from TradingView.
The two key trend-lines, colored in blue & purple, mark a key resistance bubble that falls within the range between $2.51 to $2.56. Last time XRP’s price touched this level, this didn’t hold for long, as the early November bull race completely flopped, reversing the gains.
On the other hand, the shifting market sentiment is leaning towards pessimism, rather than the exaggerated optimism that had manifested itself in a huge-sell offs numerous times in October. As pointed out last week by Santiment, rising FUD levels often carry a bullish twist.
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