XRP futures open interest cooled to $2.77 billion on October 18, 2026, with the asset trading inside a narrow $1.30 band, according to a COINOTAG update published at 20:26 UTC.

The report characterized the move as a leverage flush: sustained aggression in the market cleared out leveraged positions rather than stacking new shorts. Exchange data cited in the update showed open interest falling sharply on both Binance andbit, two of the largest centralized venues for cryptocurrency derivatives trading.

Binance's XRP open interest dropped 24.5%, from 302 million XRP to 228 million XRP, while Bybit's fell 28.1%, from 359 million XRP to 258 million XRP. Taken together, the two exchanges shed a combined 175 million XRP in open interest, a decline of 26.5%. Given the two venues' standing among the most active crypto derivatives markets, their combined book is often treated as a barometer of how much leverage is circulating around the asset.

Open interest measures the total number of outstanding futures contracts that have not yet been settled, commonly expressed in dollar terms for market analysis. Declines in the metric generally indicate that existing leveraged positions are being closed or liquidated rather than new positions being opened, which is why traders frequently track it as a gauge of leverage across derivatives venues. Read that way, the latest figures show roughly a quarter of the leveraged XRP exposure on Binance and Bybit leaving the market, thinning the pool of open, margin-backed contracts rather than adding to it.

XRP is the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger and has long ranked among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Its derivatives market lets traders carry leveraged long and short exposure without holding the token itself, which is why open interest is watched alongside price. With $2.77 billion in unsettled contracts outstanding and the asset holding its narrow $1.30 band, where that open interest figure goes from here — rebuilding or contracting further — offers a direct read on how much leveraged participation remains in the market.

This content was first published on COINOTAG: https://en.coinotag.com/xrp-futures-open-interest-cools-to-2-77-billion