Why I think Ripple will maintain an upward trend

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Confession: I have only started investing in crypto half a year ago, which in my opinion is way too early to be giving any concrete advise. But it is this ripeness that gives me confidence in what I have to say.

Ripple (XRP) is now trading at around 0.23 USD.

When I say 'upward trend', I say it in a quite vague way, in the sense that I'm not predicting the factor by which it will grow.

'By the end of 2018, it will reach 10 USD, or
By mid-2018, it will achieve 500% growth'

No, none of that. I have no idea how people predict this. I will not pretend that I know how to.

So, I'm assuming that there are a lot of people just like me, who got into cryptoland recently, and who probably already own some Bitcoin and Ethereum and are looking into other altcoins to invest in. I will give you two main reasons why I think Ripple will maintain its growth.

1. Shallow reading proves its value
If you were to do some quick Google searches you would know that Ripple's use is to enable/facilitate transactions between different financial networks. It's particularly relevant for organisations that handle large volumes of financial transactions. Contrast this with the current news of how Bitcoin transactions are getting increasingly expensive and inefficient. Bingo. So that's what Ripple is for. Makes sense.

If you are more well read than this and have identified reasons as to why Ripple will not take off, congratulations, but chances are there are still a lot of others who have only done shallow research.

2. The sub-dollar price gives the impression of good value
Bitcoin is hovering above 165,000 USD at the moment, Ether above 400 USD and Litecoin above 100 USD.
Ripple is only 0.23. Really??
You know how shops price items at 0.99 instead of 1.00 ? Not matter how much you think you're not a sucker for that, the strategy still works to increase sales.
Psychologically, a lot of people will see it as a good deal. It's Ripple early days! I can buy 200 Ripples instead of getting only 0.11 ETH. So, they will buy.

So my statement is that, even if there will be news or developments that will negatively impact the price, Ripple will maintain its upward trend, because due to its position at the moment as one of the top 10 cryptos, and how novice investors will view it, people will keep buying it. The golden era of Ripple is yet to come.

As soon as I get my paycheck, I'm going to sink a bit more into Ripple.