The $XRP cup-and-handle setup people keep referencing has been forming across different timeframes simultaneously, which is the part that actually stood out to me. The daily cup traced a 52% retracement from $3.39 down to $1.64, then recovered and printed a handle with volume compressing — exactly the pattern textbook says you want to see. Breakout came August 18 above $3.20, on 217 million tokens traded. Nearly triple average volume.
That's not retail chasing. That's participation with some weight behind it.
The measured-move target off the cup depth puts the first level around $4.95. Analysts citing $8–$9 are using the broader weekly flag structure instead — a different pattern with a 580% move as its base. Those targets aren't invented, but they're stacking multiple bullish assumptions on top of each other.
What I keep coming back to is Peter Brandt's counter-read. He flagged a descending triangle risk and a potential path toward $2.68 if key support breaks. That doesn't invalidate the cup-and-handle — patterns coexist and one cancels the other on confirmation. But it's worth knowing the bearish case has a serious name behind it too.
Volume and structure first. Everything else follows from that.