Here is my two cents to start it off, starting with a Disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I have weighted portfolio of Bitcoin (5 - 10%), Ethereum (70 - 80%), XRP/Ripple (10 - 25%). I'm a HODLer, not a Day Trader,a nd reportionments are done rarely based on trends. My purpose of this post is to try and determine whether a repportionment of Ripple is appropriate. And I am currently of an equal mind. 33% to lower stake. 33% says stay hte course. 33% says increase shares. So real certainty here I tell ya! LOL Hoping someone will say something here to un-jam my mental logs.
My current facts as "I" see them....
CURRENT PRICE: Ripple is doing absolutely nothing. No real motion in any direction except sideways. Only recent facto that may be contributor is the court case that allowed prior founder (McCaleb) to unload his billions of XRP at a current rate of "0.5% of average daily volume for each day of the week, including weekends and holidays". So hardly anything of much substance, however, the fact that the price hasn't gone down means that there are at least enough buyers to keep the price even.
NEWS: I keep a very steady eye on Ripple, constantly trolling news, webs, boards for info. Again - nothing. Almost a total black hole of current news. The only recent "news" are name dropping tidbits about SBI Holdings in Asia wanting to use Ripple. Microsoft Azure being open to Ripple blockchains. R3CEV hinting at Hyperledger open to Ripple use cases. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) running a Ripple Blockchain Trial. Press Releases about 42% savings to banks using Ripple. And vague references to Interledger, which is sort of analogous to Hyperledger or Lightening network in a way..... talk, no real world scenarios yet though. And all of this very hypy-vague. Just little tidbit trickles of "News", "non-News" actually, that basically says, "Hey, we're alive."
GENERAL THOUGHTS: I think Ripple/XRP IS still alive, and due to the nature of its business model, is in "secret development" mode. I mean, you won't see news, until you see news, but whe that news does come - it may be a hard break. My opinion is that will most likely be up (obviously - I DO own it), but I guess it could be down, or it might even be just a really really slow up if the news is not dramatic enough that other coins (Bitcoin/Ethereum etc) aren't also releasing big news, and thereby suck up all the investment money that might go into Ripple/XRP - thereby blunting the reaction. However, it could go the other way,a nd we could get good news out of Ripple / bad out of Ethereum/Bitcoin, and the pressure could be exacerbated up. Also- the whole "premined" aspect doesn't bother me that much. With all my crypto investments I am looking primarily at actual eventual use case scenarios to determine value. The 2nd tier money coins (Lite, Dash, Monero etc) are of no interest, and even the Utility coins (Emercoin, Maidsafe, etc) seem a bit too spiky/dodgy and subject to market manipulation/risk to me.
Ripple is obviously a top tier player, but a little lacking in discussion at present. Thought I'd fire up a topic.
Peace,
- david