Key Takeaways:
XRP's Bitstamp pair fell 37.15% in a single one-minute candle on Aug. 24, while Kraken and OKX showed far narrower ranges, according to exchange data.
CoinGlass data shows $523 million in crypto liquidations hit in one hour around 05:32 UTC, with $448 million of longs and $74.76 million of shorts.
Bitstamp's XRP/USD pair reached a one-minute high of $1.69739 at 05:03 UTC, then fell to $1.06689 in the 05:10 candle before closing that minute at $1.44837. Kraken's 24-hour range spanned $1.70 to $1.3359, a 21.4% move, while OKX showed a $1.70 high and $1.3757 low, a 19.1% range.
XRP still carried $3.66 billion in open interest at 01:50 UTC on Aug. 23, with $18.08 billion in 24-hour futures volume against $5.10 billion in spot volume, leaving the size of any leverage reset unclear.
The 37% figure spread across social media as a $0.60 drop and broader market dip, but Bitstamp's candle matches the percentage while other venue ranges show the limit of that headline. By roughly 01:50 UTC on Aug. 23, CryptoSlate's XRP market data showed 10 major spot markets clustered near $1.49 to $1.50.
The wider liquidation wave was real but market-wide. A KuCoin relay published at 05:32 UTC cited CoinGlass data showing $523 million in crypto liquidations over one hour, including $448 million of longs and $74.76 million of shorts. That does not support the claim that $500 million of XRP longs disappeared within minutes. The larger figures were also rolling totals: $1.801 billion over 24 hours in an early relay, $1.35 billion per BeInCrypto, and $1.244 billion per TechFlow, which separately put XRP's 24-hour liquidations near $123 million.
XRP traded near $1.47 on Aug. 24 after gaining approximately 47% over seven days, with a market cap of $93.77 billion and $6.17 billion in 24-hour volume. The token moved between $1.46 and $1.54 over the latest 24-hour period. Spot XRP ETFs recorded $18.38 million in net inflows on Aug. 21, with Bitwise accounting for about $16.89 million, and weekly inflows approached $40 million — the strongest week since May. Cumulative net inflows are near $1.55 billion.
The derivatives book remains crowded. XRP futures open interest jumped 34.49%, or roughly $939 million, to about $3.66 billion over seven days. Binance positioning data showed 72.1% of accounts long versus 27.9% short. Funding stayed positive at 0.01% every four hours, equivalent to an annualized rate near 24.94%. Daily RSI readings ranged from 70 to 85.4, deep into overbought territory.
A wallet attributed to market maker Wintermute carried approximately $190.77 million in short positions on Hyperliquid as of Aug. 24, including a $10.19 million XRP short — roughly 0.28% of reported XRP open interest. Ethereum led the reported short book at $53.02 million, followed by Bitcoin at $30.66 million and Solana at $22.62 million. The attribution relies on third-party wallet labels; Wintermute has not publicly confirmed the positions.
The first test for XRP is whether it can hold the $1.44 to $1.46 region after its weekly surge. Resistance sits near the recent $1.54 high, followed by the psychological $1.60 level. A move above those levels could increase losses for uncovered short positions, while a decline below support could pressure heavily leveraged longs. Without matched open-interest and funding readings before, during, and after the move, the size of any leverage reset cannot be measured cleanly.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
