Payments-focused cryptocurrency XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) retained strong momentum in the early hours of Monday, while higher-valued coins retraced.

What happened: XRP rose by over 3% in the last 24 hours, defying corrections in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH).

The 24-hour trading volume soared 150% to $10.59 billion, highlighting high liquidity and trader engagement.

Over the past week, XRP has posted a gain of 18.80%, primarily due to news of a formal settlement agreement between Ripple Labs and the SEC, which might bring the multi-year legal battle to a close.

The coin has also profited from the U.S.-China tariff de-escalation.

The XRP derivatives market was also boosted, with Open Interest rising 14% in the last 24 hours and more than 70% of Binance traders betting on an increase, according to Coinglass.

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Widely followed cryptocurrency influencer Sjuul Follings stated XRP was showing "nice strength."

"Structure is bullish, support held, so I have to assume we are moving to range high next," Follings wrote, predicting a move to $3

Price Action: At the time of writing, XRP was exchanging hands at $2.50, up 3.14% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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