Traders Flock to Bullish Bets, Pushing XRP Futures Open Interest to Highest Level in Five Months

XRP Futures Heat Up on Bullish Bets, Yet Spot Price Struggles to Break Higher

XRP futures traders are turning increasingly bullish, but so far, the token’s spot price has remained underwhelming.

On Monday, open interest in XRP perpetual futures spiked to 800 million XRP across leading exchanges—a level unseen since January 19—according to data tracked by Velo. The figure covers USDT- and USD-margined perpetual contracts on Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Hyperliquid.

As of now, total open interest sits at around 743 million XRP, reflecting a notable 33% surge since June 22, when XRP fell to a local low of $1.90.

Open interest measures how many active futures contracts are in play and is often seen as an indicator of fresh money entering the market. However, it doesn’t directly reveal whether traders are leaning bullish or bearish.

Nonetheless, evidence suggests the recent increase is driven by traders betting on further gains. Perpetual futures funding rates have held positive territory and even breached the annualized 10% mark at times—a sign that long traders are paying a premium to keep positions open.

In perpetual contracts, funding payments occur approximately every eight hours. When perpetual futures trade above spot prices, traders holding long positions typically pay shorts to balance the market.

Further pointing to a bullish tilt, Binance’s “top trader long/short ratio” for the XRP/USDT pair stands at 1.90, according to Coinglass data—indicating nearly twice as many long positions as shorts. Traders betting short profit when prices drop.

Additional optimism was visible last week in Deribit’s options market, where participants targeted higher-strike XRP call options.

Despite this futures-driven enthusiasm, XRP’s spot price hasn’t mirrored the same strength. On Monday, XRP briefly touched $2.35—its highest level since late May—before pulling back to $2.25, where it’s since hovered in a relatively narrow range without major volatility.