XRP rallied nearly 40% in roughly two days, rising from around $0.997 on August 19 to above $1.39 on August 21, while Binance open interest climbed to a new high of approximately $263 million.

The expansion in derivatives exposure has been building for several weeks.

Binance XRP open interest increased from roughly $181 million on August 3 to $263 million on August 21, a gain of about 45%.

However, taker-flow data shows a notable divergence beneath the price rally.

Binance XRP Perpetual CVD continued falling to approximately -$514.4 million, indicating that aggressive sell-side executions remained dominant even as both XRP’s price and open interest moved sharply higher.

Rising open interest alongside declining perpetual CVD is consistent with new short-side positioning being added into the rally.

Spot activity showed a different trend.

All-CEX Estimated Spot CVD improved from roughly -$250 million to -$194.8 million, a positive shift of about $55 million.

While spot CVD remains negative, the recovery contrasts with the continued deterioration in Binance perpetual CVD.

The divergence suggests that a growing portion of derivatives traders is still leaning against the rally even as price momentum remains strong, leaving XRP’s futures market increasingly sensitive to further price moves in either direction.

Written by Amr Taha