Key points

CME XRP futures market interest has reached an all-time high. However, will XRP rebound as large institutions slow down their positions?

Before a spot ETF in the U.S. may be approved, institutional interest in Ripple [XRP] has surged to an all-time high.

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the open interest in the XRP futures market reached a record nearly 12 million XRP, equivalent to a cumulative value of $9.02 billion.

According to exchange data, the record demand is -

"Clear signs of growing market confidence."

Overall demand for XRP futures is declining

Compared to other exchanges, CME ranks fourth, behind Bybit, Binance, and Bitget. However, in recent days, the overall demand for XRP futures has been declining along with prices.

In late July, the total open interest of Bitcoin futures peaked at about $10 billion, then plummeted to $7.3 billion on August 22. Since then, the market cooling has caused the value of this altcoin to drop from $3.6 billion to $2.8 billion, a decline of 23%.

The $2.8 level has been held during the pullback in the third quarter. Whether this level can be held again remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, market observers believe that the growth of CME futures serves as a vote of confidence as a benchmark for the approval of a spot XRP ETF, and may bring positive results for the product.

However, on cryptocurrency Twitter, investors in XRP and Chainlink [LINK] have found themselves in a cold war. In fact, a key official from Chainlink claimed that Swift is collaborating with the XRP network, not XRP itself.

Interestingly, LINK has risen 75% in three weeks, outperforming XRP in the third quarter. This raises the question - can it surpass XRP in the short term?

However, this outstanding performance has only recently begun, as XRP has dominated for most of the past two years.

Whale activity has changed

Meanwhile, two major whale groups holding 10 million to 1 billion tokens have reduced their sell-offs, a trend observed in July and early August.

The strong bids from these large players may alleviate the pullback of XRP and trigger a reversal.

Overall, the boom in CME futures is beneficial for XRP, especially regarding the approval of the spot ETF. Additionally, whale sell-offs have eased; if they start strong buying again, the market is poised for a recovery.