XRP has just regained a ranking it has not held for weeks, and the derivatives market suggests traders are preparing for more.
The token soared to $1.53 on Tuesday and is up 11% this week, surpassing BNB to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization of $93.4 billion. According to CoinDesk analysis, the move broke the $1.40 resistance level and trading volume surged 125% to $3.22 billion.
Coinglass data shows that XRP open interest on Binance has climbed to 353.49 million XRP as of March 17, up from 222.79 million on October 24, 2025, when XRP was trading at $2.39. Open interest increased by 59%, while the price fell by 37%. New leveraged positions are being built in the recovery rather than unwinding, which is fundamentally different from the deleveraging that dominated January and February.
The Binance OI chart shows the full arc. Open interest peaked at over 400 million XRP in September 2025, plummeted during the October crash, with the price falling from $3.65 to below $2, and slowly rebuilt over the next four months.
The current level of $353 million is close to, but not yet at, pre-crash levels, meaning the market has room to increase leverage before reaching concentration levels prior to the last crash.
Traders may now focus on whether the $1.50-$1.60 area holds or becomes another failed breakout that has filled the area since October for the coin. The increase in open interest gives it more structural support than previous attempts, but XRP approaching pre-crash leverage levels (58% below pre-crash prices) is a setup that works until it doesn’t.
