According to recent reports, XRP slid about 15% after peaking at $3.66 on July 18, wiping out roughly $2.4 billion in open futures positions. That sharp drop has traders debating whether to hunker down or scoop up XRP near the $2.60 mark. Rally Driven By Big Bets XRP’s surge from $2.17 on July 1 to $3.66 by July 18 was powered by a surge in open interest that peaked at $11.2 billion in dollar terms. That means a lot of traders had large positions riding the upswing. Related Reading: Countdown To August 15: What XRP Investors Need To Know Since then, open interest has fallen to $8.8 billion, a 20% drop in US dollar value. In XRP units, contracts fell 10% to 2.80 billion. Liquidations of roughly $325 million over the two weeks ending July 25 show some of those big bets were wiped out. Futures Traders Hold Steady Annualized futures premiums for monthly XRP contracts have stayed in a 6% to 8% range. That suggests traders aren’t panicking even after the price dipped below $3. Short‑term swings didn’t spark a rush into bullish bets when XRP briefly rose past $3.60, slowing the risk of more forced exits. The calm premium levels hint that professional players remain cautious but not overly concerned. Growing chatter about a US spot ETF for XRP has added to the mix. Ether products crossed $18 billion in assets under management, so some expect a similar boost if a spot‑XRP ETF wins approval. But approvals can take many months, and nothing is certain. Rumors about banks or a tie‑up with SWIFT have popped up online without proof. Traders know that hype only lasts so long when there’s no real deal. On‑Ledger Activity Trails Peers DeFi use on the XRP Ledger is still small. According to RWA.xyz data, just $134 million of tokenized assets sit on the network, compared with $190 million on Avalanche. Decentralized exchange volume barely makes the top 50 chains. DefiLlama shows Sui recorded $13 billion in 30‑day DEX trading, and Sei handled $1.43 billion. Those gaps show that XRP’s on‑chain tools haven’t drawn the same crowd as rival networks. Related Reading: Bitcoin Ain’t ‘Better’, ADA Is, Cardano Founder Says Looking ahead, clear growth in real‑world use could help XRP break out of its current $3.00–$3.15 range. For now, traders are watching both price action and on‑chain metrics. It may take fresh catalysts beyond ETF hopes to drive sustained gains. Until then, the market could stay choppy and reactive to any big swings in open interest. Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView Source: newsbtc.com (Read Full Article)