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Is the XRP Rally Losing Steam? Open Interest Drops Sharply Across Exchanges

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What It Means for XRP Investors and Prices


XRP futures traders appear to be pulling back as open interest dropped, funding rates weakened, and exchange transaction activity fell significantly.

XRP failed to break above $1.40 on Wednesday despite early-week optimism about a potential resolution to the Iran conflict. At the same time, derivatives data suggest speculative activity in the market has been cooling.

Open interest in XRP derivatives has declined sharply across major trading platforms after a period of strong speculative activity that accompanied the asset’s rally toward its cycle peak in July 2025.

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Signs of Cooling After Heavy Long Liquidations

New data tracking multi-exchange open interest shows that the total value of active futures contracts has dropped noticeably across nearly all major exchanges, which indicates a reduction in leveraged participation. Open interest represents the total number of futures contracts that remain active in the market, and a decline typically means that traders are closing positions or reducing exposure.

Despite the broader decline, Binance continues to hold the largest share of XRP derivatives activity, as open interest currently stands at approximately $222 million. Bybit follows with about $195 million in open interest. While these figures remain higher than the lowest levels recorded in 2024, they are significantly below the high readings observed during mid-2025 when XRP reached its cycle high and speculative trading activity intensified.

After examining liquidation data across exchanges, CryptoQuant found a clear dominance of long liquidations compared with short liquidations, both in frequency and total value. This pattern suggests that bullish traders have been disproportionately affected by recent market volatility.

The report also said that heavy long liquidations typically push funding rates lower, and often bring them back toward neutral levels or even into negative territory. Such conditions generally reflect weakening bullish sentiment and increased caution among derivatives traders.

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Market Participation Slows

Meanwhile, activity involving XRP transfers to and from major cryptocurrency exchanges has dropped to its lowest level since the indicator was introduced. The data comes from the Multi Exchanges Daily Depositing/Withdrawing Transactions Delta, a metric that tracks the number of XRP deposit and withdrawal transactions across 15 major trading platforms.

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According to the analysis, the sharp decline in transaction activity comes after XRP’s price fell by more than 60% from the highs recorded last summer. The drop in deposits and withdrawals means that fewer users are currently interacting with exchanges, in what appears to be a notable slowdown in overall exchange-related activity for the cryptocurrency.

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Crypto World

STRC May Help Strategy Get to 1 Million Bitcoin Faster, Beating BlackRock

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STRC May Help Strategy Get to 1 Million Bitcoin Faster, Beating BlackRock

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) may reach the 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) milestone faster than expected, potentially overtaking BlackRock in total holdings.

Key takeaways:

  • STRC share sales have generated cash to acquire over 3,500 BTC so far this week.

  • Strategy’s implied buying power could rise to roughly 5,700 BTC per day at Tuesday’s record pace.

Strategy’s BTC holdings over time. Source: BitBo.IO

Rising STRC demand implies 1,940 BTC of daily buying power

Strategy currently holds 738,731 BTC, including the 17,994 BTC purchase announced on Monday. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) holds 775,156 BTC, or roughly 36,500 BTC more than Strategy today.

But a relatively new instrument, Strategy’s STRC preferred stock, is helping close that gap faster.

STRC currently pays an 11.50% annual dividend, distributed monthly in cash.

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The dividend rate adjusts every month to encourage the stock to trade near its $100 par value, which helps limit volatility. Strategy uses the proceeds from the share sales to buy Bitcoin.

Just this week, Strategy is estimated to have purchased over 3,500 BTC after selling roughly 6 million STRC shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program, data resource STRC.LIVE shows.

STRC’s volumes and BTC purchase estimates. Source: STRC.LIVE

Among the top STRC buyers is Bitcoin investment firm Strive.

On Wednesday, chief risk officer Jeff Walton said they acquired $50 million in STRC, noting that the allocation would generate about $5.75 million in annual income at STRC’s current yield.

Source: X

That is higher than roughly $1.85 million from 13-week T-bills, a difference of about $3.90 million per year.

On Tuesday, STRC logged a record $409 million daily volume and a $138.5 million 30-day average.

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STRC dashboard. Source: Strategy

Using the $138.5 million average daily trading volume and a Bitcoin price near $71,000, STRC could theoretically buy roughly 1,940 BTC per trading day, more than four times Bitcoin’s daily mined supply.

On days when STRC trading approaches its $409 million record, the implied buying power rises to around 5,700 BTC, or nearly 13 times daily mining supply.

At this rate, Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings can surpass the 1 million BTC mark by August, likely leaving behind BlackRock as well.

MSTR may tap $145.1 trillion fixed-income market

STRC may soon start competing with the traditional fixed-income markets, according to analyst Adam Livingston.

Global fixed-income markets outstanding reached $145.1 trillion in 2024, and US fixed income outstanding was $48.9 trillion as of Q3 2025, Livingston said in a Wednesday post, adding:

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“If products like STRC eventually attract even 0.1% of global fixed income outstanding, that is $145.1 billion. At $71.2K per Bitcoin, that amount of capital would be enough to buy roughly 2.04 million BTC, purely as a scale illustration.”

STRC still carries risk for investors

In its disclaimer, Strategy warned that STRC doesn’t guarantee returns, noting that it is “neither a bank deposit, nor FDIC insured, nor regulated in the same way.”

Additionally:

“It does not have the same regulatory and other protections as bank accounts, money market funds, treasuries, or similar instruments and as a result may not be a comparable investment.”

Strategy Analyst ColinTalksCrypto also warned that STRC can cut the dividend, its share price can fall below its $100 par value, and Strategy can issue more shares that dilute existing holders.