XRP Surges on Short Squeeze Fuelled by $7.4B Derivatives Surge

XRP's price surged to $1.61 on September 23, up more than 6% over 24 hours, as trading activity accelerated and leveraged funds reduced their bearish exposure in CME futures.

The token recorded roughly $7.4 billion in reported volume, with a significant shift in the positioning data showing CME leveraged funds cutting their XRP-equivalent net short position by 46.3 million XRP in a single week.

According to CFTC snapshot, on September 8, leveraged funds were net short the equivalent of 82.25 million XRP, but this dropped to just 35.95 million XRP by September 15. This reduction in bearish exposure was driven mostly by traders closing short positions, although long exposure also increased.

However, it's worth noting that the CFTC snapshot covers September 15 positioning, while XRP's strongest price move came later, so the data does not prove that short covering alone caused the rally.