XRP Liquidation Skew: 72.4% Long Accounts Face a $10.8M Sweep

XRP is trading at $1.4109 with roughly $2.2B in open interest, while 72.4% of tracked accounts remain long. That positioning is colliding with a $10.8M 24-hour liquidation total, of which $9.3M came from longs and $1.5M from shorts. The headline skew is therefore bearish for crowded longs, but the shorter liquidation windows show a more complicated squeeze structure.

Recent market coverage has shifted toward XRP’s institutional narrative, whale activity and the possibility of a renewed move toward major resistance.

OI is lower, but exposure is rebuilding intraday

The open-interest distribution shows where the liquidation risk is concentrated. Binance holds the largest share at 21.3%, with $464.4M in XRP contracts, followed by Gate at 13.9% and $302.8M, Bybit at 13.4% and $291.0M, and Bitget at 10.9% and $237.7M. OKX contributes another 5.3%, or $116.2M.

Across the tracked market, total open interest is down 3.7% over 24 hours. Binance fell 6.4%, OKX dropped 7.2%, and Bybit declined 3.3%, while Bitget slipped only 0.9%. Yet every one of those major venues recorded positive four-hour changes: Binance rose 3.3%, OKX 2.8%, Bybit 2.2%, and Bitget 2.5%. That combination points to deleveraging followed by fresh short-term exposure, rather than a clean exit from risk.

Funding remains positive, but the venue gap matters

The current funding rate is positive across most major venues, although its absolute level is modest when rounded to one decimal percentage point. Binance and OKX both round to 0.0%, while Bybit, Gate and Bitget also round to 0.0%. CoinEx is the outlier at 0.2%, with the displayed rate at 0.164039% before rounding. Edgex is negative at -0.0% when rounded to one decimal.

This is not a uniform leverage signal. The high account-long share is not being reinforced by an equally aggressive funding premium at the largest books. Instead, the venue spread suggests that some pockets of XRP leverage are paying substantially more to stay long, while the dominant Binance and OKX exposure remains comparatively restrained.

Liquidations favor longs, while takers are less one-sided

The liquidation windows reveal the key shift. Over 24 hours, long liquidations reached $9.3M against $1.5M for shorts. Over 12 hours, however, the structure narrowed to $340.1K in long liquidations versus $1.3M in shorts. The latest four-hour window also favored shorts, with $1.1M liquidated against $30.5K of longs. In the latest hour, short liquidations were $947.3K, compared with just $3.1K for longs.

That reversal aligns with the gap between the long/short ratio for accounts and active takers. Account positioning is 72.4% long overall, while takers are 53.1% long. Bybit accounts are 76.7% long and Bitget accounts 81.7% long, but OKX takers are 56.7% short. Binance takers remain 56.5% long, leaving the active-flow picture mixed rather than decisively bullish.

Verdict: XRP’s immediate risk remains skewed against crowded longs while price stays near $1.4109 and open interest remains near $2.2B. The key downside liquidation level is $1.3729, where a major Bybit long was forced out, while $1.4142 marks a notable Binance short-liquidation level above spot. The bearish liquidation-skew view is invalidated if XRP moves above $1.4142 while open interest rebuilds above $2.2B and taker positioning becomes more consistently long.

Data as of 01:05 Beijing time on Sep 21, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.