$XRP is showing a widening gap between its spot and derivatives markets.
Spot buying has reached its strongest level since early June, while leveraged traders on Binance continue increasing bearish bets. The trend was highlighted by CryptoQuant analyst Amr Taha.
$XRP Spot Demand Hits Highest Level Since June
Data shared by Taha shows the All CEX Estimated Spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) climbed to about $388.6 million on July 23. That is its highest level since June 1.
The metric tracks net aggressive buying and selling across centralized spot exchanges. The latest increase points to stronger buying pressure from spot traders.
The data suggests investors are becoming more active in buying $XRP directly despite mixed sentiment in the derivatives market.
Binance Futures Traders Keep Adding Bearish Positions
While spot buying strengthened, Binance’s perpetual futures market told a different story. Binance Perpetual CVD fell to roughly -$547.4 million on July 23. This shows aggressive sell orders continued to dominate futures trading.
For comparison, the most negative reading in May was only around -$5 million. The sharp decline highlights a major increase in bearish positioning among leveraged traders.
The negative CVD suggests futures traders are increasingly betting against $XRP even as spot investors continue accumulating the asset.
Open Interest Rises as Short Exposure Grows
The divergence becomes even more notable when combined with rising open interest. Binance $XRP open interest increased from about $198 million on July 8 to $215.7 million on July 23. That represents a gain of nearly 9%.
According to Taha, rising open interest alongside deeply negative perpetual CVD suggests new leveraged short positions are entering the market. It is not simply a case of existing long positions being closed.
However, he noted that open interest alone cannot confirm the direction of every new position.
Coinbase Leads Spot Trading Volume
Spot trading activity also increased across major exchanges instead of being concentrated on a single platform.
On July 21, Coinbase recorded about $157 million in $XRP spot trading volume. Binance recorded roughly $111 million over the same period. The figures suggest spot demand is broad-based, with buyers active across multiple exchanges.
$XRP Spot and Futures Markets Send Mixed Signals
Overall, the data points to a market with sharply divided sentiment. Spot investors are showing renewed confidence by increasing purchases, while leveraged futures traders continue building bearish exposure.
Such divergences are often closely watched because a strong move in either direction can force one side of the market to unwind its positions. At press time, $XRP is trading at $1.11, down 2.2% over the past day but up 2.44% over the past week.
