XRP open interest on Binance sits at 516.6M, up from a 2026 low near 350 to 400M, but still a fraction of where it started this chart, above 1.3B last October. Price has recovered to $1.48 from a February low near $1, a genuine rebound open interest hasn't matched in scale.

The two series have largely moved together through this entire window. The sharpest open interest collapse happened almost immediately, cratering from 1.3B to the 500 to 600M range within the first weeks shown, right alongside price sliding from near $3 toward $2.20. Both continued declining through a volatile February, open interest dropping to its cycle low near 350 to 400M as price fell sharply toward $1.50. From March through July, both chopped sideways in a tight range, open interest mostly 400 to 700M, price $1 to $1.75, no clean directional trend in either.

The most recent move is where this gets interesting. Late August into September saw both lines spike together, open interest jumping from around 400M toward above 700M, price climbing from near $1 to the $1.25 to $1.30 area, before both pulled back. A genuine joint recovery in positioning and price, not price moving independently of leverage.

What stands out is the gap that remains. Price at $1.48 represents a real recovery off its own lows, but open interest at 516.6M is still well below both its October 2025 starting point and its own recent September peak above 700M. That asymmetry suggests leveraged positioning hasn't fully returned to the scale price action alone might suggest.

My honest read: open interest and price have been genuinely correlated throughout, making the current gap meaningful rather than noise. Price recovering faster than open interest rebuilds typically points to a less leveraged, more cautious market than a year ago.

What I'm watching: whether open interest continues climbing back toward its recent September peak, or whether this current pullback in both series extends further.

Written by R3N