Despite the active start of the new week on the crypto market, with over $200 million short positions liquidated as per CoinGlass, popular crypto asset XRP is showing signals that may force most market participants to temporarily step aside. 

Thus, the current technical picture on the charts, as well as on-chain data, indicate that the next at least seven days may become a period of exhausting sideways movement rather than any kind of storm on the chart.

Why this week is one to skip for XRP, according to Bollinger Bands

The main reason is revealed through the Bollinger Bands indicator on the daily chart, which has started to narrow after a recent spike in volatility, when the price reached local peaks. The corridor is now becoming narrow again, which means a sharp drop in volatility. 

Trading around $1.35 per token, XRP is not expected to see significant moves either upward or downward in the short term. For active traders, not investors, this means that the market is offering minimal profit potential at the moment.

Attempting to guess the direction of the breakout from this accumulation at the moment is likely to bring no benefit and only try one's nerves. 

Interestingly, CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn has just officially confirmed his exit from an XRP position as well. According to his data, recent growth was driven by forced short position closures, a short squeeze. After it occurred, in his view, the structure no longer supports holding the position.

As for fundamental developments around XRP, this week is taking place under the banner of XRPL Japan, an important conference in Tokyo, where representatives of Ripple and XRP Ledger developers from Asia will participate. It will be interesting to observe what news and narratives this event will bring.