Institutional Pivot: Why XRP Spot Buying Skyrockets While Futures Open Interest Slumps

Bitrue reported a 212% increase in spot buying for XRP on February 26, with buy orders more than doubling the selling pressure.

Bitrue said on February 26 that it registered a 212% jump in spot purchases of XRP as institutional investors continued to allocate capital through newly launched XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The exchange pegged the spike at about $1.1 billion in cumulative ETF inflows, arguing that steady demand from funds and retail traders could tighten available supply in coming months.

Spot buying increases as ETF inflows increase

In a post on X, Bitrue said XRP buy orders on its platform exceeded sell orders by more than two to one.

“We recorded a 212% increase in XRP spot purchase volumes, outpacing the sell side by more than twofold,” the exchange said on X.

It attributed the imbalance to continued institutional accumulation since the debut of XRP ETFs, which it claims have attracted $1.1 billion in net assets, even as data from SoSoValue showed muted ETF flows in recent days.

However, the derivatives market tells a different story. According to CryptoQuant, XRP futures has an open interest fallen on major platforms over the past 90 days, with Binance recording a drop of 7.7 million XRP and Bybit posting a larger drop of around 12 million tokens. Additionally, the three-month moving average for XRP futures volume has fallen to the lowest level since November 2024. settle at approximately $87 billion.

Looking at the broader market structure of XRP, at the time of writing, Yet the token is still down more than 23% over the past month and almost 38% over the past year, well below its all-time high in July 2025 of $3.65.

The leverage effect of the cooling meets the constant demand on the spot market

The difference between spot accumulation and declining derivatives activity indicates a shift in market composition rather than uniform bullish momentum. Open interest now stands at almost $2.37 billion according to CoinGlass figures, and the reduction in leveraged positions could reflect traders reducing their risk after months of volatility.

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From a price perspective, XRP continues to fluctuate between $1.38 and $1.48 over the past 24 hours. One market watcher, CasiTrades, identified resistance around $1.40 and $1.65, with support around $1.11 and $0.87. According to them, a sustained move above these resistance levels would likely require stronger follow-through on ETF inflows and broader market participation.

As such, Bitrue’s reported spike in spot buying, taking into account the broader data, indicates robust demand at the exchange rate level, but the broader data shows a market that is rebalancing rather than accelerating.

Nevertheless, the crypto exchange predicts that growing retail and corporate support could lead to a supply shortage that could boost the Ripple token’s performance enough to beat major rivals this year.

“As support increases from retail and institutional levels, Bitrue predicts a potential supply squeeze, which will likely result in XRP outperforming key competitors in the second quarter of 2026,” Bitrue wrote.