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At the time of writing, XRP is trading at $1.33, up 0.41% in the last 24 hours. XRP price is holding steady near $1.33, but derivatives markets are telling a story of caution. Open interest (OI) has continued to compress, reflecting reduced leverage and limited new speculative positioning even as the token attempts small daily gains.
XRP futures open interest now sits at 1.5 billion XRP, according to Glassnode data. This marks a 25% decline from recent highs and a dramatic 71% collapse from the 7 billion peak recorded in early October 2025.
Following the aggressive deleveraging event in early October 2025, which saw perpetual OI collapse from 7B to 2B XRP (−71%), positioning has continued to compress. OI has since declined a further 25% to 1.5B XRP.
The market has yet to rebuild speculative exposure, signaling… https://t.co/nFKEFvTtsK pic.twitter.com/wmeuLkvwgs— glassnode (@glassnode) April 13, 2026
The drop in open interest means fewer leveraged bets are active in the market. Perpetual contracts have seen limited rebuilding of speculative exposure, with traders staying on the sidelines rather than piling into fresh long or short positions.
The decline in open interest is the clearest signal of current market sentiment. After the aggressive deleveraging event in October 2025, derivatives traders have remained cautious. Many have reduced exposure rather than re-engage, resulting in lower overall leverage across exchanges.
Additionally, OI-weighted funding rate has remained near neutral to slightly negative in recent weeks, indicating limited conviction from both long and short traders. In the past 24 hours, short liquidations dominated by $1.60 million vs $170K long. This shows that aggressive short positioning has been punished more than longs during recent swings.
As a result, this lack of fresh speculative capital is keeping upside capped even as XRP price attempts modest gains. Without meaningful rebuilding of open interest, rallies tend to lack follow-through, as there is less momentum from leveraged participants to push prices higher.
Low and falling open interest suggests XRP price is likely to remain range-bound in the near term. Traders are watching $1.41–$1.53 as near-term resistance and $1.22 as key support.
If open interest begins to rise alongside price, it would signal returning speculative interest and could support a stronger move higher. However, if open interest continues to compress, any rally near $1.35 will likely face repeated sell pressure as leveraged positions stay light.
The token itself has seen a number of positive developments take place in recent times. In early April 2026, ex-Ripple CTO David Schwartz made a case for XRP over stablecoins for cross border payments. Additionally, a state backed Argentine energy firm put $861 million worth of electricity into the XRP Ledger.
For now, the derivatives market is reflecting caution rather than conviction. XRP price action will depend on whether fresh capital returns to futures markets or if traders continue to sit on the sidelines.
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