XRP is still struggling to recover from its recent price correction that caused its price to retest its multi-year low at $0.98, but its derivatives market on Binance is providing a different signal.
While the high price volatility has drawn attention towards XRP, the latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that XRP's derivatives market on Binance has seen a sharp increase in activity this month.
What's behind XRP's 29% OI surge?
The data further showed that XRP open interest on Binance had climbed from about $181 million on August 3 to $232.7 million on August 17.
As such, the Binance XRP OI saw a sharp increase of 28.6% over the last two weeks, bringing the XRP futures market to its highest level since June 2026.
While this has come during a period of heightened volatility and consistent price declines, it appears the sharp OI surge is being driven largely by intense bearish positioning by traders rather than renewed bullish demand.
Not a bullish signal?
The analyst further provided extended data of XRP's seven-day open interest trend, showing that XRP's open interest change on Binance moved from about -$40 million on July 29 to +$38.9 million on August 17. This further proves that fresh positions were increasingly opened in August, whether bearish or bullish.
Per the data, the rapid surge in the XRP OI was accompanied by persistent selling pressure as Binance's Perpetual CVD fell to -$463.2 million.
This suggests that aggressive sell-side activity has continued to outweigh buying in the XRP derivatives market, providing a mixed signal for XRP, as the initial OI surge could be interpreted as bullish while other indicators show that it is bearish traders in action.
U.Today Editorial Team
Dan Burgin
