Ripple (XRP) futures open interest surged by 32% - are traders bullish or bearish?

Source: Cointelegraph Original: "XRP Futures Open Interest Surges 32% – Are Traders Bullish or Bearish?"

Key Points:

The price of XRP fell to an annual low of $1.61 on April 7, but over the past two weeks, with the recovery of the entire crypto market and a surge in XRP's open contracts, XRP has risen by 25%.

The open interest of this altcoin surged by 32% between April 21 and 23, increasing from $3.14 billion to $4.13 billion, indicating a return of derivatives traders. The futures open interest rose in tandem with the price, suggesting bullish market sentiment, but data from Velo presents a different picture.

Based on the negative premium of open contracts, the XRP futures market still holds a reverse bet against the rise in XRP prices. The funding rate remains close to 0, indicating that both long and short positions are in a neutral state in the market.

In April, the cumulative trading volume difference in the spot market turned positive. This indicator measures the net difference between aggressive buying and selling trades across various exchanges. When this indicator turns green and rises above zero, it indicates increased buying pressure, with the volume of buy orders exceeding that of sell orders.

Despite rising interest in the futures market, data shows that the price of XRP is still caught in a tug-of-war between bullish spot market activity and bearish perpetual futures.

Is XRP destined to enter the double-digit price range?

After the rise in XRP prices, the crypto investment community Sistine Research released a bold prediction, expecting XRP's long-term target to be between $33 and $50. This prediction is based on a high time frame (HTF) symmetrical triangle, similar to the 2600% increase XRP experienced in 2017. The platform also suggested that optimistic targets could push the price to a range of $77 to $100.

Currently, the price of XRP is $2.23, with a market capitalization of $131 billion. If XRP's target price is $33, the market cap would increase to approximately $2 trillion (a growth of over 1400%), which exceeds Bitcoin's current market capitalization.

From the perspective of a lower time frame (LTF), XRP is showing an inverse head and shoulders pattern, which may test the resistance range between $2.50 and $2.67. This resistance range coincides precisely with the Fibonacci extension levels drawn from the neckline bottom to the lowest point of the head.

Although the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is close to the overbought zone, suggesting that prices may temporarily stall in the current range, further observation is still needed.

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This article does not contain any investment advice or recommendations. Any investment and trading activities involve risks, and readers should conduct their own research before making decisions.