Key Takeaways
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XRP whale withdrawals from Binance surged to 231 million tokens, worth roughly $335 million, the highest level in six months.
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XRP has rallied nearly 50% in a week, while some of Hyperliquid's most profitable XRP traders remain heavily short.
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An XRP Ledger hackathon in New York on Oct. 24–25 will bring together developers working on payments, AI-driven finance and lending just before Ripple Swell.
XRP whales are moving hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of tokens away from Binance just as the cryptocurrency records one of its strongest rallies of 2026.
More than 231 million XRP , valued at roughly $335 million, were withdrawn from Binance as large-holder outflows reached their highest level in six months, according to CryptoQuant data cited by analyst Darkfost.
The number is particularly large compared with the recent trend. Whale withdrawals have averaged roughly $40 million over the past 90 days, with the latest movement exceeding eight times that level.
The move came as XRP rebounded from below $1 to nearly $1.70, gaining about 44%–50% over seven days before pulling back to $1.38–$1.40 on Aug. 26.
XRP was the strongest-performing top-10 cryptocurrency over the seven-day period, with a 43.7% gain in one Aug. 26 snapshot.
231M XRP Leaves Binance, But Whales Are Moving Both Ways
Large exchange withdrawals can support a bullish argument because XRP transferred away from Binance is no longer immediately available for sale.
But the whale data are not one-sided.
Another CryptoQuant dataset showed roughly 1.451 billion XRP flowing into Binance from whale addresses over the previous 30 days, a four-month high. That means large holders have been moving substantial amounts both onto and away from the exchange.
The better reading is that whale activity has accelerated sharply rather than that every whale is accumulating.
Derivatives activity tells a similar story. XRP futures volume across Binance, Bybit, OKX and Bitget reached $11.37 billion on Aug. 22, its highest level since early February. Binance alone accounted for $5.63 billion.
That creates conditions for much larger moves in either direction.
XRP Shorts Are Building as Traders See a 2022 Repeat
Hyperliquid data adds another twist.
An Aug. 26 snapshot of the platform's nine most profitable XRP traders showed about 97% of their combined $14.33 million exposure was positioned short. One wallet accounted for roughly half of that bearish position.
Wintermute has also held more than $10 million in XRP shorts on Hyperliquid, although market-maker positions can serve as hedges rather than outright bearish bets.
Broader positioning is less extreme, with market observers pointing to roughly $70 million long versus $77 million short. That distinction matters: the most profitable tracked wallets are aggressively bearish, while the wider market is much closer to balanced.
If XRP rebounds, concentrated shorts could become forced buyers as positions are liquidated. If $1.35–$1.40 fails, however, the same leverage could accelerate another leg lower.
Technical trader Coinvo Trading sees the former outcome as more likely. The account compared XRP's current price to its 2022 low, arguing that XRP again fell below the midpoint of its trading range before recovering.
In 2022, a similar setup was followed weeks later by a sharp move higher.
The comparison is not proof that the pattern will repeat, but it puts additional attention on whether XRP can defend the current support zone and challenge the $1.65–$1.70 resistance area again.
XRP Ledger Hackathon Adds Another October Catalyst
Away from price charts, the XRP Ledger ecosystem is preparing for a major developer event.
XRPL Commons and the XRP Ledger Foundation will host a 36-hour in-person XRP Ledger Hackathon in New York on Oct. 24–25, immediately before Ripple Swell.
Builders will work across Protocol Innovation, Agentic Finance, Lending & Borrowing and an open "Why Not" track, while a three-day Core Dev Bootcamp runs from Oct. 20–22.
Mastercard has also joined as a sponsor. The connection comes as Mastercard expands stablecoin settlement support to RLUSD and XRPL , while its separate Verifiable Intent standard targets secure authorization for AI-agent transactions.
None of that guarantees a higher XRP price .
But it poses two very different tests for the rally. In the short term, traders will watch whether 231 million XRP leaving Binance and crowded shorts create another squeeze toward $1.70.
Over the longer term, the question is whether developer activity around payments, lending, and agentic finance generates enough real XRPL usage to support the demand story beyond speculation.
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