XRP has rallied nearly 10% over the past week, highlighting its divergence from the institutional sector as investment products related to the token recorded their biggest monthly outflows this year.
Data from CryptoSlate shows that the digital asset reached a monthly high of $1.60 in the past 24 hours before falling back to stabilize at around $1.51 at press time.
This notable market rise coincided perfectly with a massive surge in new wallet creations, an increase in daily active addresses, and an increase in completed payments made directly on the XRP Ledger.
Blockchain analytics provider Santiment reported that the underlying network recently surpassed 7.7 million non-empty wallets. Additionally, active addresses on the network increased to 46,767, marking a five-week high in network participation and user engagement.
Evernorth, the largest XRP treasury company, highlighted the aggressive growth trajectory of these network metrics in a recent market update.
It stated:
“XRP transactions are approaching 3 million as of this week, up from ~1 million per day in mid-2025. Almost triple! The price movement has caught our attention. The activity shows that adoption is increasing as more financial assets move on-chain.”
As a result, the current market environment provides traders with two completely separate signals to evaluate. While the use and raw transactional utility of blockchain networks is rapidly accelerating across the digital ecosystem, investment through regulated financial fund vehicles continues to shrink.
Institutional investors reduce XRP portfolio exposure
Institutional investor interest in digital assets has followed a completely different trajectory than the retail spot market, with professional investors rapidly reducing their direct exposure to Ripple Link tokens.
On March 16, asset management company CoinShares reported that its XRP investment products recorded official outflows of $133 million throughout the month. This particular amount of capital flight has solidified the token as the worst-performing digital asset within professionally managed investment portfolios during the reporting period.
SoSo Value data shows that four U.S. spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) actively support this broader institutional setback. These funds have experienced continuous outflows since March 5, totaling approximately $58 million in capital outflows.
Notably, the current trend marks the longest streak of outflows since these listed products were launched last November. At its current pace, the XRP fund is on track to record its first monthly negative flow since its inception.
This sharp contraction comes on the heels of four consecutive months of positive capital injections totaling approximately $1.26 billion.
The decrease in XRP funds can be attributed to changes in macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. CryptoSlate previously reported that capital flows to XRP funds have declined by 93% amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
During this period, investors have consistently directed significant capital inflows into Bitcoin-related financial products. Current data from CoinShares shows that Bitcoin funds have seen approximately $1.3 billion in positive inflows since the beginning of this month.
Despite changes in the institutional environment, Ripple continues to advance its corporate strategy across global payments, institutional custody, liquidity provision, and corporate treasury management.
The technology company recently made a series of significant strategic acquisitions involving financial firms Hidden Road, GTreasury, and Palisade. The company also continues to actively pursue regulatory operating licenses across various jurisdictions around the world to support its expanding XRP infrastructure.
Spot market buyers absorb sales by institutional investors
Meanwhile, due to the rapid decline in institutional capital, the main driving force behind the current XRP price trend is retail spot market investors.
A CryptoQuant research note indicated that XRP open interest is showing early signs of a broader structural recovery following a period of sustained downward pressure.
Open interest on major crypto derivatives exchanges, including industry leader Binance, has been on a consistent decline since the beginning of the year and remains near record lows.
A decline in open interest as prices fall or stabilize typically indicates a complete unwinding of overleverage across the broader financial markets. This indicates that a significant portion of highly speculative and leveraged positions have been successfully cleared from the trading system, paving the way for more natural price discovery.
However, open interest rose slightly over the past day to $2.84 billion, according to CoinGlass data.
At the same time, daily derivatives trading volume rose 71% to $7.37 billion, the highest daily trading volume since mid-February.
What’s next for XRP?
Considering the above and recent price trends, cryptocurrency analyst Dom noted that the market structure of XRP on Coinbase, the largest US-based exchange, shows “the largest bidding bias within 50% seen in almost a year.”
This means that there is a minimal concentration of sell orders in the price range of $1.50 to $2.00. The apparent lack of significant overhead resistance suggests that asset prices can rise with significantly reduced friction, as there are fewer structural barriers in the order book to slow potential forward momentum.
However, for the token to achieve such an increase, outflows from its four funds would need to decline significantly from current levels.
This means the XRP ETF will need to successfully recoup the approximately $58 million lost since early March to provide the necessary institutional support.
At the same time, the token will require a broader shift in macro market momentum to revive interest in alternative crypto assets. This could help refocus speculative markets on XRP for long-term sustainability.
