XRP futures hit six-month high, here's what changed

XRP's derivatives market woke up in August. Futures trading volume climbed to a six-month high, its busiest stretch since February, as a sharp price rally pulled traders back to the token, according to data from CryptoQuant.

It was a striking turnaround for a market that had gone quiet for much of the year.

According to the report, the rebound was broad, but one name did most of the work. Binance handled roughly $37 billion in XRP futures during August.

Bybit came a distant second at about $14.54 billion, with OKX close behind at $12.88 billion. 

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Together, the three venues cleared more than $64.6 billion in XRP futures for the month, a level of activity the market had not seen since winter.

Price did the heavy lifting

The trigger was the token itself. XRP jumped almost 30% through August, climbing from $1.06 at the start of the month to an intraday high of $1.50 on August 24 before settling at $1.35, according to the CryptoQuant report.

The move spilled into the spot market too, where volume hit its own six-month high. Binance again led with about $7.28 billion, followed by South Korea's Upbit at $4.68 billion and Bithumb at roughly $2.59 billion.

The caution flags

Not everyone is convinced the rally has legs. Analyst ChartNerd noted on X that XRP has closed below its 50-week moving average for three straight weeks while momentum readings look overbought, with support now near $1.29.

On the institutional side, XRP ETFs stretched their winning streak to eight weeks but drew just $19 million in the latest period, a steep drop from the $110 million logged a week earlier, the strongest inflow of 2026.

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