Ripple (XRP) is the 5th largest crypto by market cap behind BTC, ETH, USDT, and BNB. In mid-October 2023, Ripple had a market capitalization of $26.6 billion.

XRP price began to rally again in mid-October after six months of hardly moving (other than a July spike that lasted about a few weeks).

Here are six major XRP price factors moving forward:

1. Tailwind: SEC Drops Charges Against Ripple Executives

Ripple tokens jumped to 6% gains on the 7-day window Thursday after markets welcomed news of an SEC retreat on two key parts of its Ripple lawsuit.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said in court papers it is dropping all claims against two key Ripple executives.

That will spare both executives a jury trial. The dropped charges leave the case down to negotiating over penalties to Ripple Labs, the SEC said in its filing.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

“The dismissal of civil claims against Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, who were sued for assisting Ripple Labs’s sales, will likely encourage wealthy crypto defendants to fight regulators in court.”

Larsen and Garlinghouse have been vociferous critics of the SEC over its lawsuit against Ripple. According to Reuters, Garlinghouse said:

“Instead of looking for the criminals stealing customer funds on offshore exchanges that were courting political favor, the SEC went after the good guys.”

The statement seemed to reference FTX exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently standing trial for criminal charges related to FTX and Alameda Research.

2. Headwind: Ongoing SEC Lawsuit Depresses XRP Price

XRP price made market waves in July after a US judge ruled against the SEC that Ripple tokens are not securities. But that victory was short-lived. In October, the XRP price is back