XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger closely associated with blockchain payments firm Ripple, advanced roughly 5% between September 16 and September 27, holding its ground even as derivatives data pointed to a marked increase in selling pressure, according to figures from analytics platforms CryptoQuant and CoinGlass, as reported by AMBCrypto on September 29, 2026.

The gains came despite a growing number of traders betting against the asset, with much of that activity concentrated on Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume. Short selling is the practice of selling a borrowed asset in anticipation of buying it back at a lower price.

Selling Pressure Builds in the XRP Market

One measure of this selling is the Cumulative Volume Delta, or CVD, an indicator that tracks the difference between buying and selling volume over time. Between September 16 and September 27, the CVD fell from negative $2.27 billion to approximately negative $2.70 billion, meaning net selling volume grew by about $430 million.

Binance traders played a significant role in the shift. Their exchange volume moved from negative $1.0 billion to roughly negative $1.2 billion over the same period. A negative CVD signals that sellers have been more active than buyers. Even so, the price of XRP did not decline during this stretch. That divergence — heavier net selling among leveraged traders alongside a firm price — is the kind of signal that directs attention away from the derivatives market and toward spot activity.

Spot Buyers Move Coins Off Exchanges

Spot investors appear to be a key reason the price has held up. These market participants purchase the actual asset rather than betting on its price through contracts. CoinGlass tracks spot netflow, a measure of how much of an asset moves into and out of exchanges, and recently more XRP has left trading platforms than entered them.

Withdrawals of this kind typically indicate that investors are moving their holdings into private wallets, a step often associated with an intention to hold over a longer period. Over the past seven days, net outflows totaled $60.33 million. Because coins sitting on exchanges can be sold at any moment, sustained outflows shrink the XRP supply immediately available for trading on those platforms, which is why netflow data is widely tracked as a window into holder behavior.

This spot buying has helped absorb much of the selling pressure originating from the perpetual futures market, where most of the recent short selling has taken place. Perpetual futures are contracts that allow traders to bet on price movements without an end date.

Funding Rate Remains Positive

Another factor supporting the price is the Funding Rate, a fee paid between traders holding long and short positions in the perpetual market; when the rate is positive, long positions pay short positions. Since September 16, the Funding Rate for XRP has stayed positive, rising from 0.0062 to 0.0081 during that period, based on CryptoQuant data. A positive Funding Rate means more perpetual traders are betting the price will go up, positions known as longs. Scale matters, though: when funding rates climb to elevated levels, the cost of keeping long positions open rises sharply, a condition traders describe as overheating because it reflects increasingly crowded bullish positioning in the perpetual market.

According to the report, XRP could keep its upward trend if spot buying continues and the Funding Rate stays positive without overheating.

As of press time, the latest data showed $17.11 million in net XRP outflows from exchanges over the past 24 hours, extending the pattern of coins leaving trading platforms.

Source: Blockonomi