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XRP whales have kept buying, even as the price has moved only modestly. Wallets holding at least 10 million XRP now control 45.8 billion tokens worth more than $68.5 billion. That marks the largest holding level for this whale group since May 2018. It also shows that large holders remain deeply committed to XRP despite the slow price response.
At the same time, XRP has not matched that accumulation with a strong breakout. Can whale demand keep building when the market still expects limited upside?
US spot XRP ETFs held only $1.25 billion in assets at press time. That amount stayed far below the value of the XRP held by whales. Even so, the text points to a strong link between ETF flows and short-term XRP price moves. Whale accumulation may also track those ETF inflows.
Meanwhile, Deribit options traders assigned only a 2% probability to XRP clearing $2 by the end of May. That low pricing reflected weak bullish expectations, even with whale balances at a record level.
The cautious mood did not stop with XRP alone. Altcoins across the market also stayed weak or flat as Bitcoin drew most investor attention.
XRP then caught fresh interest after a rebound. The token climbed from $1.38 on May 8 to a two-month high of $1.54 on May 14. After that rise, XRP pulled back from the peak. Still, the move drew more attention to the asset and lifted activity in derivatives trading.
Verified CryptoQuant analyst Arab Chain first pointed to the market shift during the rebound. He said Binance’s Estimated Leverage Ratio climbed to about 0.179, its highest level in nearly two months. Arab Chain said the rise came as XRP traded near $1.48. He also noted that the ratio had been rising for several days after staying weak since mid-March.
He linked the increase to the recent price recovery and said traders likely added leveraged positions while expecting more upside or sharper short-term moves. Yet the same leverage also raised risk. Heavy leverage can trigger liquidations fast when the market moves against open positions.
Also Read: XRP Futures Activity Rises on Binance as Open Interest Tops Average
Recent CoinGlass data showed a softer derivatives market after XRP slipped from $1.54. Futures volume fell more than 40% in 24 hours to $3.7 billion.
Open interest also dropped 6.69% to $2.86 billion as liquidations rose and some traders exited positions. The long-to-short ratio over the past 24 hours stood at 0.8911, showing more short positions than long ones.
XRP whale holdings have reached an eight-year high, but price action remains cautious. Spot ETF assets stay small compared with whale balances, while options and futures data show weak bullish confidence and rising short interest. The market now watches whether renewed leverage can support a stronger XRP move.
