Top Hyperliquid XRP Traders Short as Price Rallies
XRP (XRP)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
cryptobriefing.com reports that nearly all top XRP traders on Hyperliquid are positioned short while the token rallies 47%. The nine most profitable wallets on the decentralized exchange hold 97% of their combined $14.33 million XRP exposure on the short side. One single wallet accounts for half of this total short interest, anchoring the bearish thesis with roughly $7 million in exposure.
Market maker Wintermute also holds more than $10 million in XRP shorts on the platform, part of a broader short portfolio exceeding $190 million. These traders are holding firm despite the price surge, with earlier short positions sitting on unrealized gains exceeding 1,500% from entries near XRP’s peak of $2.43. Hyperliquid launched in 2023 as a decentralized perpetual futures exchange built on a custom Layer-1 blockchain.
It offers XRP perps with leverage up to 20x and a wrapped token called FXRP for spot exposure. Open interest for XRP across all crypto venues has approached $3.61 billion, with Hyperliquid contributing a meaningful share. The platform’s design means all positioning is visible on-chain in real time, allowing analysts like @jodezXBT to identify top-performing wallets.
Wintermute’s involvement adds a caveat, as market makers often hedge spot holdings or client flow rather than taking pure directional bets. For now, the scoreboard favors the shorts, whose willingness to hold through a 47% rally suggests deep conviction or a cost basis allowing them to absorb further pain.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for XRP, measured when this story was written up on 26 August 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
XRP is trading at $1.42 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 51.1% and a 4-hour buy ratio of 48.4%, compared to a 24-hour buy ratio of 51.9%. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at +$462,673, indicating immediate buying pressure, while the 4-hour delta is negative at -$553,241, showing recent selling. Over 24 hours, the volume delta is strongly positive at +$8,976,592, and the cumulative volume delta (CVD) closed at +$134,926. This means that over the last day, buyers have been more aggressive than sellers, pushing the net flow positive. However, the 4-hour data suggests this buying momentum may be fading or being offset by larger sell orders in the shorter term. Spot volume for the period was $238,596,035 across 1,648,472 trades.
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.
Twenty-four hours later
What XRP did over the 24 hours after the story broke. The market moves for its own reasons; this is what happened, not what the story caused.
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, the average buy ratio was 48.9%, with the latest day showing a 3.0 point increase over that average. Volume was 0.51x the average, indicating significantly lower trading activity than usual. There were zero days of net buying in the past seven days, contrasting with the positive 24-hour delta. The price changed by +28.7% over eight days, while the total volume delta for that period was -$61,148,055. This suggests that despite the price rise, the broader weekly trend has been characterized by net selling pressure and below-average volume.