XRP Open Interest Falls 32% as Spot Selling Accelerates
XRP (XRP)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
According to thecurrencyanalytics.com, XRP traders are rapidly deleveraging, causing Binance open interest to drop 32% from $323 million to $219 million between August 22 and September 17. This sharp decline in derivatives exposure outpaced the 11% price fall, signaling that traders are closing leveraged positions faster than new ones are opening. Cumulative volume delta across centralized spot exchanges cratered from negative $111 million to negative $2.1 billion, indicating aggressive sell-side dominance that dwarfed the derivatives activity.
Binance’s perpetual futures CVD also fell significantly, but the spot market’s intensity was roughly twice as severe, suggesting regular holders were selling alongside leveraged speculators. Despite this retail and leveraged outflow, institutional money continued to enter XRP products, with U.S. spot XRP ETF cumulative net inflows crossing $1.70 billion by September 9. Ripple noted that the U.S. Senate’s vote against advancing a federal digital asset market framework does not affect XRP’s legal standing or daily operations.
The company argued that flushing out excessive leverage historically sets the stage for price recovery by reducing the risk of forced liquidations. However, the massive $2.1 billion spot CVD swing suggests sustained selling pressure that may persist even as ETF inflows remain strong. This divergence between institutional ETF buying and spot market selling creates a complex picture where different participant groups are moving in opposite directions. Ripple maintains that demand continues across payments and stablecoins, viewing the current deleveraging as a potential precursor to stability rather than a bearish collapse.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for XRP, measured when this story was written up on 17 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
XRP is trading at $1.30 with a 24-hour buy ratio of 51.8%, indicating a slight shift toward buying pressure over the full day compared to the 1-hour ratio of 42.7% and the 4-hour ratio of 45.4%. The 24-hour volume delta is positive at $8,859,534, contrasting with negative deltas of -$793,725 over the last hour and -$1,869,611 over the last four hours. This shift suggests that while short-term selling pressure exists, buying volume has accumulated significantly over the longer timeframe. The buy ratio measures the proportion of aggressive market buys relative to total trades, while volume delta tracks the net difference between aggressive buying and selling volume. With 11 hours of net buying in the last 24 hours and a spot volume of $250,415,754, the market shows mixed but stabilizing flow dynamics.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.6% sits at the 83rd percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 48.5% - stronger buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for XRP, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, XRP experienced a 6.8% price decline with a total volume delta of -$2,909,350, indicating sustained selling pressure compared to the recent 24-hour buying surge. The weekly average buy ratio was 48.9%, while the latest day saw a 2.8 percentage point increase, suggesting a temporary improvement in buying sentiment. Trading volume was 1.14 times the weekly average, reflecting heightened activity relative to the norm. Only two of the seven days recorded net buying, highlighting that the recent positive delta is an unusual deviation from the broader weekly trend. This contrast between the weekly negative flow and the current day’s positive delta marks a potential short-term reversal in the prevailing downtrend.