XRP Whales Buy the Dip as Futures Open Interest Hits 10-Month High— So Why Is Price Down 6%?

XRP is seeing growing whale accumulation, surging network activity and rising derivatives leverage despite underwhelming price performance.Whales Countering Selling Pressure?In an X post on Aug. 11, Santiment data showed that the number of XRP Ledger wallets holding at least 1 million XRP has increased by 32 over the past three months despite a 29% punge in XRP’s market capitalization.The divergence suggests large holders have continued accumulating during the market downturn rather than retreating alongside prices.Santiment pointed to Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as another fundamental development, noting its growing institutional presence alongside Ripple’s payments, custody and tokenization infrastructure.The analytics firm said rising million-XRP wallets alongside falling market capitalization suggests stronger hands are absorbing selling pressure, potentially making future volatility more interesting for bulls.XRP Network Activity SurgesCrypto chart analyst Ali Martinez highlighted another bullish divergence beneath XRP’s muted price action.XRP network activity has surged since the beginning of August, with active addresses climbing 84.18% from 23,642 on Aug. 1 to 43,543.Derivatives traders are also increasing their exposure.Coindesk noted that open interest in XRP futures has risen to 2.67 billion XRP, worth almost $2.73 billion, up from $2.41 billion as of Aug. 1.Image: Shutterstock