Karla Barker 
XRP traders have been selling into weakness across spot and perpetual futures markets. Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 16, the combined cumulative volume delta for the token fell by nearly $2 billion, according to market data. That is a large move, and it lines up with a clear drop in open interest on Binance and Bybit.
Spot and futures selling align
Cumulative volume delta tracks the gap between aggressive buys and aggressive sells. When the reading falls, sellers are hitting bids more often than buyers are lifting offers. For XRP, estimated spot CVD across centralized exchanges dropped from -$1.9 billion to -$3.2 billion. That added $1.3 billion in net aggressive selling.
Binance perpetual XRP CVD also slid, from -$812 million to -$1.5 billion. That is another $688 million in selling pressure. Put together, the two readings fell by $1.988 billion. The trend was already visible by mid-September, but the latest move shows sellers stayed active and pushed both measures deeper into negative territory.
Open interest drops on Binance and Bybit
The selling coincided with a reduction in derivatives positions. On Binance, XRP open interest fell from 302 million tokens to 228 million, a drop of 74 million XRP or 24.5%. Bybit saw a larger decline, from 359 million XRP to 258 million XRP. That is 101 million fewer tokens, or 28.1%.
Across both exchanges, open interest declined by 175 million XRP. That is a 26.5% reduction. Open interest measures active futures and perpetual contracts. When it falls alongside negative CVD and weaker prices, it often points to traders closing leveraged longs. It does not necessarily mean new shorts are driving the market. This looks more like deleveraging, perhaps the kind that can remove excess leverage over time. It is not a guaranteed recovery signal, though.
Liquidation clusters point to short-side risk
Liquidation data confirms the unwind among bullish traders. XRP saw several long-liquidation spikes above $10 million during the period, with one peak near $17 million. The liquidation heatmap also shows a gap in potential pain above and below the current price. Two highlighted short-liquidation clusters above the market hold a combined $54.7 million. Two long-liquidation clusters below the market total just $14.17 million.
That makes the short clusters about 3.86 times larger than the highlighted long clusters. In simple terms, the bigger concentration of trapped leveraged positions sits with short sellers above the current price. For now, the data shows heavy selling, falling open interest, and a market still working through leveraged positions.