XRP gained nearly 10% last week, marking a sharp departure from the institutional sector as investment products tied to the token posted their steepest monthly outflows of the year.
Data from CryptoSlate showed that the digital asset hit a monthly high of $1.60 over the past 24 hours, before retreating to stabilize at around $1.51 at the time of writing.
This remarkable market rally coincided perfectly with a huge surge in new wallet creations, an increase in the number of daily active addresses, and an increased number of completed payments made directly on the XRP Ledger.
Blockchain analytics provider Santiment reported that its underlying network recently surpassed 7.7 million non-empty wallets. Additionally, active addresses on the network rose to 46,767, marking a definitive 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 said:
“XRP transactions are approaching 3 million per day as of this week, up from ~1 million per day in mid-2025. Nearly tripled! Price movements are attracting attention. The activity shows where adoption is growing as more financial assets move up the chain.”
As a result, the current market environment offers traders two completely separate signals to evaluate. The use and raw transactional usability of the blockchain network is accelerating rapidly in the digital ecosystem, while investments through regulated financial funds continue to shrink.
Institutional investors are reducing exposure to XRP portfolios
Institutional interest in digital assets has followed a completely different trajectory than the retail spot market, with professional investors quickly scaling back their direct exposure to the Ripple-linked token.
On March 16, asset manager CoinShares announced reported that XRP investment products recorded formal outflows of $133 million during the current month. That specific volume of capital flight clearly places the token as the worst-performing digital asset within professionally managed investment portfolios during the reporting period.
SoSo value facts shows that the four US XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are actively supporting this broader institutional retreat. These funds have seen continued outflows since March 5, resulting in total capital outflows of approximately $58 million.
Notably, the current trend marks the longest sustained outflow since the introduction of these exchange-traded products last November. At the current pace, XRP funds are on track to record their first negative monthly flows since their launch year.
This sharp contraction immediately follows four consecutive months of positive capital injections totaling approximately $1.26 billion.
The decline in XRP funds can be attributed to changing macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. CryptoSlate previously reported a 93% drop in flows going into XRP funds amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
During this period, investors have driven consistent, substantial capital inflows into Bitcoin-related financial products. Current CoinShares data shows that Bitcoin funds have attracted approximately $1.3 billion in positive inflows since the beginning of the current month.
Despite the changing institutional landscape, Ripple continues to advance its business strategy in global payments, institutional custody, liquidity provision and corporate capital management.
The tech company recently completed a series of key strategic acquisitions involving financial companies Hidden Road, GTreasury and Palisade. The company also continues to aggressively pursue regulatory operating licenses in various global jurisdictions to support its growing XRP infrastructure.
Buyers in the spot market absorb institutional sales
Meanwhile, the rapid decline in institutional capital has led to private spot market investors being the main drivers of the current XRP price action.
An investigation remark from CryptoQuant showed that XRP’s open interest is showing the first signs of a broader structural recovery after a period of sustained downward pressure.
Open interest on the major cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, including market leader Binance, has fallen continuously since the beginning of the year and is near the lower historical range.
A decline in open interest alongside falling or stabilizing prices generally signals a thorough deleveraging of the broader financial market. This indicates that a significant portion of highly speculative leveraged positions have successfully cleared the trading system, paving the way for more organic price discovery.
However, CoinGlass facts showed a slight upward move in open interest to $2.84 billion over the past day.
At the same time, daily derivatives volume rose 71% to $7.37 billion, the highest daily trading volume since mid-February.
What’s next for XRP?
Considering the above and the recent price trajectory, crypto analyst Dom pointed out that the market structure of XRP on Coinbase, the largest US-based exchange, is showing the “largest bid skew within 50% in almost a year.”
This means that there is a minimum concentration of sell orders in the price range of €1.50 to €2.00. The apparent lack of heavy overhead resistance suggests that the asset price can rise with significantly less friction, as fewer structural barriers exist in the order book that could slow potential forward momentum.
However, for the token to achieve such an advantage, outflows from the four funds would have to be significantly reduced from current levels.
This means that the XRP ETFs must successfully recoup the approximately $58 million lost since early March to provide the necessary institutional support.
At the same time, the token would require a broader shift in macro market momentum to revive interest in alternative crypto assets. This could help revive speculative market interest in XRP for long-term sustainability.