Derivatives traders are pulling out of XRP at a pace not seen in more than a year. Open interest on Binance — the total value of unsettled XRP futures contracts — fell to $369,657,870 on July 29, 2026, according to data cited by Finbold. That's the lowest reading since November 14, 2024, when open interest stood at $401,803,784.
The retreat is steep by any measure. Since July 21, 2025, XRP's Binance open interest has collapsed by roughly $1.33 billion, a 78.28% plunge. Zoomed out across all exchanges, aggregate open interest in XRP futures has fallen from approximately $3.9 billion to around $784 million over the same stretch — a decline that wipes out the bulk of the leveraged positioning that had built up around the token.
Price Has Followed Positioning Lower
The unwind in futures markets has tracked a broader slide in XRP's spot price, which has tumbled more than 65% over the past twelve months. XRP traded at $1.08 at the time of reporting, up a modest 0.52% on the day — a small bounce that does little to offset the scale of the year-long decline.
Where the Capital Is Going
Analysts point to a rotation of capital away from crypto derivatives and toward artificial intelligence stocks as a key driver of the pullback. With bearish sentiment persistent across the altcoin market, traders appear to be reducing leveraged exposure to XRP rather than adding to it, even as the spot price has stabilized somewhat in recent sessions.
A shrinking open interest base can cut both ways for future volatility: less leverage in the system means fewer forced liquidations on sharp moves, but it also signals that conviction among derivatives traders — long a barometer of speculative appetite for XRP — remains firmly in retreat.
