XRP rose about 40% over the past two weeks, climbing from about $0.99 to $1.38, while total XRP futures open interest fell 16% to about 2.34 billion contracts. According to ChainCatcher, CoinGlass data showed that XRP futures positions were reduced across exchanges except CME.
CME’s XRP futures open interest rose about 36% to 387 million contracts, lifting its share of total open interest from about 10% to 17%. CFTC data showed that as of August 25, leveraged funds held net short positions equivalent to about 116 million XRP, more than double the 57 million XRP reported a week earlier, while dealers and asset managers increased net long positions by about 60 million and 28 million XRP, respectively.
The shift in positioning came ahead of a procedural Senate vote on the U.S. CLARITY Act, expected in mid-September. The bill previously helped push XRP up about 5% when it passed the Senate Banking Committee in May.