$XRP is still struggling to recover from its recent price correction that caused its price to retest its multi-year low at $0.98, but its derivatives market on Binance is providing a different signal.
While the high price volatility has drawn attention towards $XRP, the latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that $XRP's derivatives market on Binance has seen a sharp increase in activity this month.
What's behind $XRP's 29% OI surge?
The data further showed that $XRP open interest on Binance had climbed from about $181 million on August 3 to $232.7 million on August 17.
As such, the Binance $XRP OI saw a sharp increase of 28.6% over the last two weeks, bringing the $XRP futures market to its highest level since June 2026.
While this has come during a period of heightened volatility and consistent price declines, it appears the sharp OI surge is being driven largely by intense bearish positioning by traders rather than renewed bullish demand.
Not a bullish signal?
The analyst further provided extended data of $XRP's seven-day open interest trend, showing that $XRP's open interest change on Binance moved from about -$40 million on July 29 to +$38.9 million on August 17. This further proves that fresh positions were increasingly opened in August, whether bearish or bullish.
Per the data, the rapid surge in the $XRP OI was accompanied by persistent selling pressure as Binance's Perpetual CVD fell to -$463.2 million.
This suggests that aggressive sell-side activity has continued to outweigh buying in the $XRP derivatives market, providing a mixed signal for $XRP, as the initial OI surge could be interpreted as bullish while other indicators show that it is bearish traders in action.