Why is the XRP Army Celebrating Today? 

The recent surge in XRP’s value on November 6 is part of an upward movement that began on October 19, coinciding with the moment Grayscale Investments, a New York-based firm, re-submitted its application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to transform its Bitcoin trust into a spot-based ETF.

As a result of this upward trend, XRP’s price has soared by approximately 45%, overtaking Cardano to secure the position as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as of November 6.

The positive trajectory for XRP was further fueled by the authorization it received to be used in transactions by financial entities within the Dubai International Financial Centre’s free trade zone. This endorsement has likely played a role in enhancing XRP’s appeal to investors.

XRP’s ascent is also building anticipation for Ripple’s Swell conference slated for November 8-9 in Dubai. Speculation is rife that Ripple may use the event to announce intentions for an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Additionally, the National Bank of Georgia’s decision to engage Ripple for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project focusing on the digital lari provided another potential uplift for XRP last week.

Whale investors, or large holders of XRP, have shown signs of increased accumulation. According to analytics platform Santiment, the quantity of XRP held by addresses containing 100,000 to 1 billion XRP tokens hit a peak in November 2023. This whale activity coincides with a rise in XRP’s social dominance, which tracks its mention across crypto-focused social media channels compared to the top 50 cryptocurrencies, reaching its highest since July 2023.

Turning to the derivatives market, XRP has seen its open interest—the total of all outstanding derivatives contracts that have not been settled—increase by 13.5% in the last 24 hours, amounting to $751.75 million. This figure, although an increase, is still below the $1.19 billion peak that followed the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit update in July.

Concurrently, the funding rate for XRP—which indicates the cost of holding long positions—has declined to 0.01% every eight hours on November 6 from 0.03% the previous day. This translates to a modest 0.2% weekly rate, suggesting that the leverage cost for long positions remains manageable, as funding rates below 1% per week are typically not regarded as high.