The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the first-ever XRP futures ETF, launched by ProShares. This ETF is expected to go live on April 30th, 2025. While it’s not a spot ETF — which tracks the actual price of XRP — it’s still a huge step forward for XRP’s recognition on Wall Street.
The ETF approval comes just a few years after Ripple, the company behind XRP, was locked in a long legal battle with the SEC. Now, XRP is moving from courtrooms to trading floors, joining the ranks of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which already have both futures and spot ETFs.
Some investors were unsure at first, asking, “Why futures and not spot?” But futures ETFs are often the first step. This was the path for Bitcoin and Ethereum, and experts believe a spot XRP ETF could be next. Futures trading allows big institutional investors to take positions on XRP, whether the market goes up or down — a common and healthy part of mature financial markets.
BREAKING: SEC Approves an $XRP ETF — and It’s HUGE
No, it’s not a Spot ETF yet. It’s a Futures ETF — but don’t underestimate what this means.
Here’s the breakdown:
Wall Street attention: Big players have a way to trade XRP. Mainstream legitimacy: XRP is officially… pic.twitter.com/AWHTBjijeR
Experts called the approval a game-changer, pointing out that this move gives major players a way to legally and securely trade XRP. And the good news doesn’t stop there. In Brazil, the XRP H11 ETF has just launched on the country’s main stock exchange, making it the first XRP-focused ETF in the world. This global momentum suggests XRP is no longer being left behind.
Just a few years ago, XRP was under heavy legal scrutiny. Now, it’s being listed on international exchanges, with regulated investment products opening the door for more adoption.
From being targeted by regulators to becoming a favorite of institutional investors — XRP is clearly turning the page.
The crypto market just closed its first red weekly candle after five consecutive green ones. Profit-taking pressure following the recent rally is fueling short-term pessimism, as seen on the liquidation maps of several altcoins.
In this context, a few altcoins are showing a high risk of triggering liquidations for derivatives traders in early August. Which altcoins are these?
1. XRP
The 7-day liquidation map for XRP reveals a major imbalance between Long and Short positions. Data shows that accumulated Short volume (green bars on the right) significantly outweighs Long volume (red bars on the left).
This reflects a prevailing sentiment that XRP’s price will continue to decline in the first week of August.
This bearish expectation likely stems from XRP recording two consecutive weeks of losses, dropping over 18% from $3.65 to $2.97 at the time of writing. As a result, many short-term traders believe the downtrend will persist.
However, Short traders could face surprise liquidations if XRP recovers this week. If XRP rises to $3.20, over $400 million in Short positions could be liquidated.
From July’s peak to the early August low, XRP has dropped 25%. Historically, such steep declines are often followed by notable rebounds. Hence, some analysts are warning of potential liquidations driven by this recovery.
“XRP is liquidating short positions following the liquidation of highly leveraged long positions. If XRP rises to $3.06, a large amount of short positions will be liquidated,” analyst CW stated.
2. TRUMP
The liquidation map for the TRUMP meme coin also shows a large imbalance, with most potential liquidations concentrated on the Short side.
However, many analysts believe TRUMP has consolidated around the $8.50 range—a key support level for several months. If TRUMP climbs to $9.80 this week, about $50 million worth of accumulated Short positions could be wiped out.
At the end of July, SunPump—a meme coin launch and trading platform on TRON—announced the listing of TRUMP, which enhanced the token’s liquidity. This announcement followed Justin Sun’s public commitment to invest $100 million in the TRUMP token.
These developments give TRUMP more momentum for a potential recovery, which could hurt traders betting on a price decline.
3. CFX
Conflux (CFX) surprised many investors last month by nearly quadrupling in price and pushing its market cap above $1 billion.
The liquidation map shows that most traders expect CFX to correct in early August. This is evident in the large volume of potential Short liquidations, which far exceed those on the Long side.
If CFX continues its rally and reaches $0.243, around $25 million in Short positions may be liquidated.
Recent project updates may help maintain positive sentiment toward this altcoin. On August 1, Conflux announced the Conflux v3.0.0 Upgrade, which received positive community feedback.
“This major upgrade introduces 8 NEW CIPs focused on enhancing EVM compatibility, fixing bugs, and optimizing network specs!” the Conflux Network declared.
Additionally, Google Trends data shows that searches for “Conflux Network” have surged in the past month. This renewed investor interest in the project could disappoint leveraged traders betting on a price decline.
Ethereum price tumbles below $1,600 facing pressure amid $86 million DeFi capital flight to faster, low-cost rivals like Solana.
Capital Rotation Into Solana Spurs Concerns for Ethereum’s DeFi Dominance
Ethereum (ETH) is facing renewed competitive pressure after nearly $87 million in assets migrated from its ecosystem to rival blockchains in the week following former U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeal of a controversial decentralized finance (DeFi) regulation.
On April 10, Trump signed a bill overturning a Biden-era mandate requiring DeFi protocols to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. The reversal was widely interpreted as a win for crypto-native projects, removing a major regulatory overhang that threatened the sector’s permissionless structure.
Ethereum cross-chain fund flows April 2025 | Source: WormholeBridge
But for Ethereum — the current hub of DeFi liquidity — the impact has been less than favorable.
According to data from Wormhole, the largest cross-chain bridge on Ethereum, Solana captured the lion’s share of outflows with over $54 million redirected into its ecosystem. Base, Arbitrum, and Avalanche followed, attracting $9.6 million, $5.8 million, and $3.9 million, respectively.
Rapid Transfers from Ethereum Sparks 21% rally for Solana
Notably, the Solana-bound assets were funneled into DeFi protocols such as Jupiter, Kamino, and MarginFi.
Based on the latest data from DefiLlama, Solana TVL has been on a steady rise since Trump’s signing repealed the DeFI law last week.
Solana DeFi Market Cap
As seen in the chart above, Solana TVL increased 12% from $6.1 billion on April 9, to hit the $6.9 million mark at press time on Wednesday, April 16. This shows that investors deposited over $800 million into various Solana native Defi protocols over the past week.
With Solana price currently trading at $135, up 21% on the weekly timeframe. Comparatively, Ethereum price is trading below $1,600 mark, with its 8% gain on the weekly candle, reflecting second lowest returns among the top 10 ranked crypto assets.
Looking Ahead:
The DeFi fund flows observed on the Wormhole bridge further reinforce the narrative that Ethereum could be losing market dominance, as deepening regulatory clarity encourages investors to switch towards rival Layer-1 and Layer-2 protocols.
The ongoing migration trend from Ethereum to faster, lower-cost networks. Ethereum still leads in total value locked (TVL), but this week’s data is a clear signal of shifting momentum.
More so, major institutional players venturing into crypto on new themes like Real-world Asset and securities Tokenization are increasingly opting for alternative layer-1 protocols like Hedera, Avalanche, while Solana and Cardano maintain a strong hold on retail dominance.
Solana, which suffered from performance concerns in 2022, has staged a significant turnaround in both uptime and developer activity.
The network processed over 60 million daily transactions this week, far surpassing Ethereum’s 1.1 million, and maintained average fees below $0.01, according to data from Solana Explorer.
Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH Eyes $1,700 Rebound as Momentum Shifts
Ethereum price forecast charts show early signs of a potential rebound after closing at $1,592.60, gaining 0.24% on the day.
The Bollinger Bands are starting to compress, suggesting a volatility squeeze, with the mid-band resistance at $1,695.42 acting as the first upside target. ETH price is currently attempting to reclaim ground within the lower half of the bands, signaling the possibility of a bullish reversal.
Ethereum Price Forecast
The Parabolic SAR dots have flipped below the candlesticks, which is a classic buy signal in trend-following strategies.
This adds further weight to a bullish Ethereum price forecast, especially as the MACD histogram shifts into green territory for the first time in weeks. The MACD line is rising toward the signal line, suggesting bullish momentum may soon dominate.
If ETH clears $1,695, a push toward the upper Bollinger Band at $1,960 becomes plausible. However, failure to maintain current support near $1,430, ETH price risks a retest of $1,397.19, where the SAR last confirmed support.
Bitcoin price took a major hit to fall as low as $78,000 for the first time since the middle of March. There is speculation that the worst is yet to come for Bitcoin with Monday open tipped to herald fresh bearish sentiments.
Bitcoin Price Falls Below $79K Ahead Of Monday Open
According to CoinMarketCap data, the cryptocurrency market is bleeding and Bitcoin is carrying its fair share after losing nearly 6% over the last day. The steep decline saw Bitcoin dip under $80K and slide to reach a daily bottom of $78,574 for the first time since mid-March.
Despite the steep drop, Bitcoin’s daily trading volume is surging at $26.61 billion, an 85% spike in the last 24 hours. The sudden decline comes barely a day after reports of Bitcoin decoupling from the S&P 500 to become a safe haven asset.
There are several reasons for Bitcoin’s recent decline with global trade tensions considered a key culprit for the slump. US tariffs and China’s retaliation have forced investors to play safe till the storm blows over, increasing Bitcoin’s selling pressure. Furthermore, cryptocurrency liquidations of nearly $600 million adversely affect Bitcoin price.
Fox Senior Correspondent Charles Gasparino shared a scoop from a market analyst that as markets open on Monday, it may herald selling pressure. Investors are bracing for impact after recent market performance has been largely underwhelming and the specter of US blanket tariffs looms in the distance.
“Monday is shaping up to be the ultimate pain day,” said Gasparino on X, hinting at a broader selloff for Bitcoin.
Is The Bull Market Over?
There is growing chatter in cryptocurrency circles that Bitcoin is in a bear market given its current price performance. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju argues that the Bitcoin bull market is over, citing a string of on-chain data.
In his analysis, rising Bitcoin Realized Cap and stagnant market capitalization confirm that the bears are firmly in charge. Ju predicts that the bearish sentiment around Bitcoin can last for six months, dousing optimism for a short-term recovery.
Bitcoin’s recent price movement sees it cap off a torrid Q1, the worst in a decade after it fell by nearly 7%. The top cryptocurrency is dragging altcoins underwater with Ethereum losing a staggering 11.24% to trade at $1,590 as ETH price remains stuck under $2,000.
Other altcoins are undergoing a torrid patch with SOL and DOGE losing over 10% over the last day. ADA has shed 10.40% while XRP and BNB have lost 7.77% and 6.36% respectively. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization sits at $2.62 trillion as investors scan the horizon for a short-term price spurt ahead of Monday’s market opening.
BREAKING: SEC Approves an $XRP ETF — and It’s HUGE
Wall Street attention: Big players have a way to trade XRP.
