Coinbase Institutional has filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to self-certify XRP futures through its subsidiary, Coinbase Derivatives.
The new futures contracts are to be launched on April 21, 2025, and are aimed at providing institutional and retail investors with a regulated and capital-efficient means to invest in XRP.
In this regard, Coinbase seeks to increase the depth of the market for XRP and to attract institutional investors. The exchange will be able to bring these products into the market without waiting for the CFTC’s express approval as long as it meets the rules.
The XRP futures contract will be a monthly cash-settled and margined contract trading under the symbol XRL. The contract tracks XRP’s price and is settled in US dollars. Each contract represents 10,000 XRP, currently worth about $20,000 at $2 per token.
Contracts can be traded for the current month and two months ahead, and trading will be paused as a safety measure if spot XRP prices move more than 10% in an hour.
XRP futures can also be used in hedging and speculation of the token price, thus making the asset more liquid. This launch comes after Kraken listed Ripple USD (RLUSD), which was earlier a limited offering on Bitstamp. The increase in the trading of RLUSD will increase trading activities involving XRP and attract more institutional investors.
Technically, analysts noted that XRP came close to the .382 Fibonacci retracement level, which is a major resistance level. At the moment, $2.04 is considered a key support level, according to CoinMarketCap data.
If XRP manages to stay above this mark and has bullish RSI signals, then a bounce might be close. A drop below may suggest that the price may continue to fall even lower.
However, there was controversy when Coinbase made a mistake of calling the product as ‘Ripple futures.’ Some of the supporters of XRP were quick to point out that Ripple is the company while XRP is the token. They changed the name to “XRP futures” without any delay on their end.
Notably, Bitnomial also entered the XRP futures market recently and added even more intensity to the XRP derivatives market.
Also Read: Ripple Launches 100 Million XRP Rewards Program! Fact Check
