XRP Derivatives and Open Interest Bolster Ahead of SEC ETF Verdict

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faced a deadline on Friday, March 27, to decide on several applications for spot $XRP ETFs.

The agency was expected to rule on 91 pending crypto ETF applications spanning 24 tokens, including $XRP.

Several spot $XRP ETFs, including those from Canary Capital, Bitwise, and 21Shares, are already live and trading. These launched between September and December 2025 and now account for $1.44 billion in crypto inflows.

Among the pending filings is Grayscale’s, which seeks to convert its $2.1 billion $XRP Trust into a spot ETF. Franklin Templeton awaits a ruling on its sport $XRP fund while WisdomTree awaits a ruling on a batch of filings.

Online speculation points to institutional inflows of up to $8 billion following approval of the $XRP-related investment products.

$XRP price action and prediction

Ten days ago, the SEC and CFTC (Commodities and Futures Trading Commission) jointly classified $XRP as a digital commodity, placing it on the same legal footing as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Community buzz around the recent SEC deadline saw $XRP open interest (OI) spike 14.8% in 24h – the highest in a week. Historically, OI lows such as those in April 2025 have preceded a triple-digit percentage rally, a pattern March 2026 is mirroring.

Source: CoinGlass

On the other hand, $XRP’s perpetual funding rate recently surged 158.19% to reach 0.0028. This indicates that long positions are overpowering short positions, implying bullish sentiment among derivative traders.

Nonetheless, $XRP traded at $1.32 at the time of writing, having dipped 2.95% alongside the broader crypto market’s reaction to geopolitical and macroeconomic events and the Friday $13.5 billion options expiry.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Ripple developments

Ripple has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into its network, which recently helped it capture 10 bugs on the $XRP Ledger.

Further improvements to the ledger are intended to enhance consistency, strengthen security, and reinforce predictability amid rising complexity. This will hopefully address the recent rise in gas fees due to network congestion.

Furthermore, a Senate Banking Committee markup of the CLARITY Act in late April is expected to etch $XRP’s status as a commodity into federal law.