XRP open interest on Binance fell 15.35% from a six-month high while the token’s price retained most of its recent gains, according to data published by CryptoQuant analyst CryptoOnchain.
The analyst cites that Binance XRP open interest stood at $521.5 million on September 29, down from $616.1 million on September 22. Over the same window the token closed at $1.490, only 5.2% below its six-month high close of $1.572. The divergence indicates that leveraged positioning contracted faster than spot price.
The reduction began roughly six days after the September 16 Federal Open Market Committee rate decision and continued through the September 30 quarter-end. CryptoOnchain noted one unverified reading that traders may have trimmed leveraged longs ahead of the calendar close rather than selling spot holdings outright.
Earlier in September, XRP futures activity on major venues had already reached elevated levels, as covered in prior reporting on six-month volume highs.
Open Interest Decline Outpaces Spot Losses
Open interest measures the total value of unsettled futures and perpetual contracts. A drop means more positions are being closed than opened, whether voluntarily or through liquidations. On Binance the September 22 peak of $616.1 million marked the highest reading in six months. The subsequent decline of roughly $94.6 million, or 15.3%, occurred while price gave back only a fraction of the prior advance. By September 29 the gap between the two series was clear: open interest had fallen about three times as much, in percentage terms, as the closing price.
The pattern follows a period of stronger derivatives growth. A separate CryptoQuant note from late September observed that Binance XRP open interest had recorded its strongest monthly increase since August 2025, coinciding with a roughly 50% price rise over the prior month. The subsequent contraction therefore represents a partial reversal of that build-up rather than a collapse to multi-month lows. As of early October the token continued to trade near $1.49 on major venues, consistent with the September 29 close cited in the analysis.
Liquidation Pressure Rotates Toward Longs
Liquidation data on Binance shows a clear shift in which side of the market absorbed forced closures. Short liquidations reached a six-month high of $13.70 million on September 21 as price moved above $1.50. From September 23 onward the pressure reversed. Long liquidations totaled $8.43 million that day and $5.66 million on September 28. Across September 24–29, daily long liquidations averaged $3.72 million, 2.6 times the six-month daily mean of $1.43 million.
Funding rates and the estimated leverage ratio moved in the same direction. Funding declined from 0.010 to 0.005, and the estimated leverage ratio eased from 0.230 on September 22 to 0.197. The ratio remains above its six-month mean of 0.169, so leverage has been reduced but not eliminated.
CryptoOnchain summarized the reading directly: leverage has been reduced faster than price has fallen. Historically, similar resets have preceded periods of range-bound trading while positioning stabilizes. Direction after the reset is not settled by the data alone.
Exchange Reserves and Network Activity Hold Above Baseline
Spot-side metrics on Binance did not mirror the derivatives contraction. The exchange’s XRP reserve averaged 2.68 billion tokens over the seven days ending September 29, 2.4% above its 90-day baseline. Network transactions averaged 1.96 million over the same stretch, up 23% week over week. Elevated reserves relative to the recent baseline suggest that available exchange supply has not contracted in tandem with open interest, while higher transaction counts indicate continued on-ledger activity.
The combination leaves open interest lower, funding cooler, and long-side liquidations elevated, yet price and exchange balances have not registered a comparable decline. CryptoQuant’s quicktake frames the setup as a positioning reset rather than a confirmed trend reversal.
Whether the reduced leverage supports a period of consolidation or gives way to renewed directional moves will depend on subsequent changes in both open interest and spot flows. Whale inflows to Binance had already drawn attention earlier in September when large holders moved substantial volumes onto the exchange during a price advance.
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