- XRP CME Futures debut hits $19M volume, eclipsing SOL’s $12.1M launch in March.
- Market expectation for spot XRP ETF approval in 2025 was above 80%.
Ripple’s [XRP] Futures debut on Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), hit $19 million in notional trading volume, according to a 19th of May statement by the exchange.
This marked the first regulated Futures trading for the altcoin, joining Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and Solana [SOL].
The CME Futures are available in larger-sized contracts with 50,000 XRP and a micro-version with 2,500 XRP and are cash-settled. On the launch day, volume hit 150 contracts (about $19M notional volume).
However, on the second day, the 20th of May, the volume dropped 50% to 59 contracts. If the average reference price was $2.53, this translates to about $7.59 million in volume.
XRP outshines SOL
For comparison, the SOL CME Futures debuted on the 17th of March and attracted $12.1 million in volume. In other separate launches, BTC tapped $102.7M, while ETH managed $31M.
This meant XRP outpaced SOL by over $7 million and mirrored the current top crypto assets by market cap.
That said, the Futures products make it easy for institutions to speculate and adopt hedging strategies on XRP, deepening market liquidity.
But the milestone may be a step towards another goal — U.S. Spot ETF approval.
According to ETF Stores’ Nate Geraci, ETF approval was a ‘matter of time’ after the CME Futures went live.
Notably, the U.S. Spot BTC and ETH ETFs were launched after hitting CME Futures.
Since the CME announced its XRP Futures plan in April, U.S. Spot XRP ETF approval odds have jumped by over 10% from 63% to 83%, Polymarket data showed.
Despite topping SOL, XRP’s Futures launch didn’t strongly spice up speculative interest. Unsurprisingly, it mirrored the broader market cool-off after the April-May recovery pump.
Since mid-May, XRP’s Open Interest rate (OI), or money parked in the XRP derivatives markets, has dropped from $5.5 billion to $4.5B at press time. That meant short-term bearish sentiment.
Source: CoinGlass
Interestingly, BTC dominance jumped 3.6% from mid-May, from 62% to over 64% after a sharp drop in early May.
The BTC dominance recovery meant altcoins like XRP were temporarily sidelined again unless capital flowed from BTC.
On the price chart, the stubborn BTC dominance meant that the $2.6 resistance may block XRP bulls in the short term. However, bulls still had leverage provided they held above the trendline support.
Source: XRP/USDT, TradingView
