XRP’s open interest across major derivatives platforms has dropped by about 23% in under a month, falling to roughly $871 million from $1.128 billion in late August.
The decline, which wiped out close to $257 million in outstanding positions, points to traders unwinding leverage built up during the summer rally rather than a fresh wave of bets against the token, and it lines up with a difficult week for XRP on the regulatory front.
CryptoQuant contributor Arab Chain noted that Binance accounted for much of the decline, with open positions falling to $423 million from $558 million in August. Bybit fell to about $291 million from $379 million, while OKX dipped to $107 million from $125 million.
That decline points to positions from the earlier rally being closed or liquidated. Arab Chain also stressed that lower open interest does not by itself establish a continuing bearish trend. Instead, it reflects less exposure to derivatives and traders repositioning.
The change follows a difficult week for XRP as the token fell 8% in the 24 hours following the Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15. It dropped from around $1.46 toward $1.27 as selling intensified, with cumulative volume delta falling to negative 10.5 million.
The latest CoinGecko snapshot has XRP around $1.30, having barely moved over 24 hours. However, it is down nearly 7% over seven days and 5.5% in the last 14 days, although it is still up more than 30% across one month. Trading volume is about $3.6 billion, down 39% from the previous day.
Analyst ChartNerd wrote on X on September 17 that XRP was “hugging” its weekly 20 EMA at $1.29. A weekly close above that level, in his opinion, could set up a rebound, while a close below it would leave room for another retracement.
On September 10, he had also identified $1.29 as the first area to watch if XRP continued rejecting the 50-period moving average. That technical level matters because the latest selloff weakened an earlier bullish setup. XRP previously held expectations of a move toward $1.70-$1-78, but analyst Diana said the loss of $1.34 pushed the token toward $1.26.
The $1.24-$1.26 zone is now being watched, with $1.14 to $1.10 and then $1.00 entering the discussion if support fails.
The drop in derivatives exposure also comes after XRP’s earlier surge, with 85 new wallets holding at least 1 million XRP appearing two days before the August 17-21 rally that saw the token jump 70%.
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