CME Goes All-In on XRP Futures—So Why’s the Price Still Limping?

Wall Street’s favorite casino rolls the dice on Ripple—but traders aren’t biting. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) just launched XRP futures, yet the token’s price action looks more ’meh’ than moonshot.

Institutional adoption? Check. Price surge? Crickets. Maybe the ’smart money’ knows something we don’t—or maybe they’re just hedging their bets like always. Classic finance: build the infrastructure first, pray for demand later.

Meanwhile, retail traders keep getting whiplash from the SEC’s never-ending Ripple saga. Regulatory clarity? Still pending. Price momentum? Stuck in neutral. But hey, at least the CME gets its cut either way.

The CME announced the futures contract launch in a document from April 24, joining the company’s futures markets for BTC, ETH, and SOL. 

CME offers cash-settled XRP futures

The new contract is regulated by the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for transparent and efficient contracts. The contracts are settled based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar reference rate. 

The futures trade in 50,000 XRP units and are cash-settled. Traders will also have the small-contract version containing 2,500 XRP. The futures will be quoted in six consecutive monthly contracts, four quarterly contracts, and a second December settlement contract.

The XRP futures settle at 4:00 PM London time on the last Friday of the contract month or the business day prior if the expiration day is a bank holiday.

This means the contract bets on xrp price fluctuations, but no XRP is bought and used. Previous futures market launches did not generate additional crypto demand but became a part of price discovery, gauging sentiment and showing potential price moves on crypto exchanges. 

XRP still awaits a decision on 19 filings for an ETF launch, aiming to become a part of mainstream portfolios. The futures market will gauge mainstream institutional demand and point toward the success of an eventual ETF. 

XRP showed price weakness ahead of futures launch

The futures launched just as XRP HYPE was diminishing. Since May 14, open interest for the asset fell from $2.6B down to $2B on a series of liquidations. XRP traders still hold predominantly long positions due to fears of a short squeeze. Despite this, in the past 12 hours, over $12.4M were liquidated from XRP long positions. 

As usual, XRP is met with a mix of skepticism and irrational optimism, allowing for a rally as high as $10. XRP still has no clear utility, and Ripple has branched into other activities, including oracles and fintech. However, the asset has earned its spot among traders as an asset with reliable and liquid listings.

Despite the milestone, XRP has not rallied as expected. The price still faced pressure from the still-unsettled lawsuit that is clearing out the last technicalities, though the central verdict that XRP is not a security is not disputed.

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