Canary XRP ETF eyes $400 mln – Will ‘first mover advantage’ boost price?

XRP has recorded strong institutional interest despite the broader market sentiment being weak. 

One of the first asset managers to launch a spot XRP ETF in the U.S., Canary Capital, stated that its product, XRPC, has reached $336 million in net assets under management (AUM).  

The AUM exceeded that of the remaining spot ETFs combined, an update Steven McClurg, founder of Canary Capital, linked to rising investor demand. He added, 

“What we’re seeing with XRPC is more than early adoption; it’s validation of where investor demand is heading. That’s a clear signal that investors are choosing XRPC as a preferred vehicle for exposure to one of the most foundational digital assets.”

XRP ETFs eye $700M in net inflows

As of press time, there are four spot XRP ETFs that are already live in the U.S.: Grayscale’s GXRP, Franklin Templeton’s XRPZ, Bitwise’s XRP, and Canary’s product. 

Since their debut in mid-November, the products have attracted nearly $700 million in cumulative inflows and not a single day of net outflows. 

Source: SoSo Value

The overall net assets have also jumped to $687 million and could easily cross $1 billion by the end of the year if the pace of institutional demand remains the same. 

Reacting to Canary’s outperformance, Nate Geraci, Co-Founder of the ETF Institute, linked the growth to the ‘first-mover’ advantage. 

“Why first mover advantage can be so important in ETF space…Canary just issued press release stating that XRPC is larger than all other spot XRP ETFs combined.”

This raises the question: How have institutional flows impacted XRP markets and its price? 

Impact on XRP markets

The sentiment was still mixed after the ETFs debuted. Notably, the Funding Rates turned positive in the second half of November, but have been flipping between positive and negative in the past few days. 

This meant that Futures traders were initially positive and bullish after the ETFs debuted, but have since turned more neutral, adopting a wait-and-see approach to gauge the market’s next move ahead of the Fed rate decision. 

Source: Glassnode

End-of-year XRP price targets

However, the positioning by large players in the Options markets illustrated heavy hedging and protection for downside moves to $2.0 or $1.8.

Notably, the Put/Call Ratio was at 1.81 (above 1), indicating more demand for puts (bearish bets) over calls (bullish bets). 

Source: Deribit

Even worse, the players weren’t expecting a sharp move above $3 in December, with the market pricing only 7% chance for such an outcome. 

Source: Deribit

Final Thoughts

• U.S. spot XRP ETFs have recorded nearly $700 million in cumulative inflows
• However, short-term market caution was evident in the Options market.