XRP price extended its gains on March 9, rising around 1.5% to $0.40, despite a general downturn in the cryptocurrency market.
The rally in the XRP/USD pair started on March 5 with the XRP market capitalization gaining over 10% in the past four days.
In contrast, the entire crypto market's cap has dropped by about 5% in the same period, with top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) losing by 4.5% and 4%, respectively.
XRP's gains appear as investors pin their hopes on Ripple winning its long-running courtroom battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On March 6, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres issued a ruling on motions filed by Ripple and the SEC to exclude the comments of expert witnesses from the upcoming summary judgment. She approved and denied the motions in part, underscoring no clear winner and loser in the matter.
However, removing the so-called "Expert No. 1," Patrick Doody, who the SEC roped as its primary witness to testify about the perceptions of a reasonable XRP purchaser, led XRP market participants to believe that Ripple may end up winning the lawsuit.
@SECGov VS. @Ripple . Judge Torres excludes witness #1 witness Patrick Doody (expert hired to analyze our expectations as #XRPHolders ) . How will the SEC prove that we expected a profit if Doody is excluded? Don't sleep on this ruling, this is a big deal. #XRP
In other words, the SEC's argument that Ripple sold XRP as an unregistered security to gullible investors may fall flat.
As Cointelegraph reported in January, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that he expects the lawsuit to conclude "in the coming single digit months."
From a technical perspective, XRP price may risks declining in the coming weeks as it retests a
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