20.09.2025 00:11
The debut of the first U.S. spot Ripple [XRP] Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) on September 18th unfolded with remarkable success, significantly outperforming expectations. Christened the REX Osprey XRP ETF, the new financial product swiftly garnered an impressive $37.7 million in daily trading volume. Within a mere sixty minutes of its market opening, the fund had already accumulated nearly $25 million in trades, a clear indicator of burgeoning investor enthusiasm. This substantial initial demand dwarfed that seen by its XRP ETF Futures counterparts on their respective launches, registering five times their volume and underscoring a robust market appetite for the spot product.
Industry observers quickly took note of this strong market entry. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, in particular, characterized the performance as a highly encouraging signal for future spot XRP ETFs poised to enter the market. It is worth highlighting that the REX Osprey fund secured its listing through an alternative regulatory route, allowing it to fast-track its debut. Other impending spot XRP ETFs are anticipated to navigate a more protracted and conventional listing process under a different regime of the 33 Act, making REX Osprey's rapid launch and immediate impact particularly noteworthy.
Despite the fund's impressive start, the immediate trajectory of the underlying XRP token diverged, failing to mirror the ETF's initial success. XRP's price experienced an approximate 3% decline, a movement that could cause apprehension given that the $3 mark has consistently served as a critical supply and resistance area for the cryptocurrency over recent weeks. Nevertheless, an analysis of the Relative Strength Index (RSI) positioning suggested that bullish sentiment still held a dominant edge in the market, potentially empowering buyers to challenge and overcome this key price barrier.
Further scrutiny of on-chain metrics and derivatives markets presented a more nuanced picture, revealing a blend of conflicting signals. A particularly salient observation from data sourced from internet resources was the noticeable uptick in the XRP Exchange Reserve. This metric escalated from 3 billion XRP at the month's commencement to an elevated 3.6 billion tokens by press time. For context, last year's explosive rally in XRP was notably characterized by an Exchange Reserve figure that remained consistently below the 3 billion XRP threshold. This recent increase in exchange holdings could, therefore, presage an impending surge in selling pressure from investors.
