Ripple’s Futures volume hits $68B, yet XRP faces a liquidity test – Why?

Ripple Futures trading is gaining traction again after monthly volume dropped to an all-time low of $38 billion in July of this year. Later on, it climbed back to $65 billion in September and reached $68 billion by October.

This was after being down for eight straight months since last year’s peak of almost $120 billion in November 2025. Notably, Binance drove the comeback, trading $34.57 billion, followed by Bybit with $13.58 billion and OKX with $12.25 billion.

The dominance of large exchanges shows they are driving the rise in $XRP derivative products, fueled by speculation on Ripple’s [$XRP] price.

Increased turnover, however, does not indicate more buying pressure. Even so, increased participation will be beneficial if buying increases, but until then it will just make selling and liquidation pressures worse and contribute to increased volatility without increasing the value of $XRP.

XRPL stablecoin liquidity falls 12%

While increased Futures trading in $XRP points to renewed speculative interest in $XRP, decreasing stablecoin liquidity for the $XRP Ledger raises concerns regarding how much capital supports on-chain activity.

The total stablecoin capitalization has decreased by 11.88% over the past thirty days to $1.069 billion. A significant portion of this decrease is due to the treasury rebalancing of Ripple USD [$RLUSD] towards Ethereum [ETH] and not capital flight.

Nevertheless, stablecoins provide liquidity for XRPL trading and settlements. As such, decreases in stablecoin capitalizations represent decreases in dollars available for those purposes. In fact, 91.48% of the remaining supply of stablecoins is represented by $RLUSD.

This simply means that the entire ecosystem is highly reliant upon a single source of funds.

While there was a 6.91% increase in liquidity over the seven-day period, the latest daily decline signals fragility. Therefore, sustained recovery requires renewed inflows of $RLUSD returning to XRPL to support broader network activity.

$XRP buying demand lags behind futures activity

Ultimately, the next move depends on whether the recent surge in Futures trading attracts buyers who are willing to buy $XRP directly. While Futures volume is currently hovering near $2.7 billion, Spot volume is only around $470 million.

Therefore, it appears that traders are significantly more active in leveraged futures contracts compared to purchasing $XRP directly. However, it’s worth noting that the Open Interest (OI) in Futures sits at roughly $2.9 billion, indicating that substantial positions remain exposed to price swings.

However, exchange deposits could increase selling pressure, while concentrated $RLUSD activity raises questions about wider network demand. At press time, $XRP traded near $1.29–$1.30, with the next resistance seen between $1.33 and $1.35.

If a growing Spot market grows along with stable ledger liquidity, a breakout could occur. Otherwise, the current speculative frenzy surrounding $XRP will likely continue to generate extreme volatility with no impact on its price.

Final Summary

• Ripple’s Futures volume rebounded to $68 billion in October 2026, led by Binance as derivatives’ activity recovered.

• $XRP faces recovery risks as XRPL stablecoin liquidity falls 12% and spot buying lags behind futures trading.