has risen by an impressive 60% in the first quarter of 2023, helped by rising speculation over Ripple’s potential legal win versus the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and broader bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.The XRP/USD pair now eyes more gains in the second quarter, primarily due to a classic bullish continuation pattern.In late March, XRP broke above its multimonth ascending trendline resistance, averting a potential 35% correction. The rebound reached $0.58 on March 29, its highest level since May 2022.Now, XRP has been consolidating sideways in what appears to be a bull pennant. This bullish continuation pattern forms when the price consolidates inside a symmetrical triangle after undergoing a strong rally.A bull pennant resolves after the price breaks above its upper trendline while accompanying a rise in trading volumes. The pattern’s breakout target is obtained by adding the height of the previous uptrend (flagpole) to the breakout point.In other words, a bullish target of $0.65 in Q2 for XRP price, up around 30% from current levels. Conversely, a decisive close below the pennant’s lower trendline risks invalidating the bullish setup and increases XRP’s probability of testing its 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave) near $0.44 as its next downside target.The year-to-date gains in XRP price coincide with a rise in whale accumulation, according to data tracked by Santiment.For instance, the supply of XRP held by most whale address cohorts — be it 1,000–10,000 XRP or 100 million–1 billion XRP — has increased alongside its 40% gains in 2023 despite reports of some whales dumping XRP worth around $35 million., whose correlation with XRP has largely remained in lockstep on a daily timeframe this year.