CME Data Reveals Global Activity in XRP Futures, With Almost Half of Trades Executed During Non-U.S. Trading Hours.

Futures tracking XRP, the payments-focused cryptocurrency, recorded $86.6 million in trading volume within their first six days on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The newly launched contracts—standard and micro-sized—have drawn significant international interest, with nearly half of the activity occurring outside U.S. trading hours.

A CME spokesperson told CoinDesk that the futures, which went live a week ago, saw a total volume of 4,032 contracts worth $86.6 million. Notably, 46% of this trading took place during non-U.S. hours, reflecting strong participation from global investors.

XRP, designed for fast and low-cost cross-border transactions, is widely used by fintech firm Ripple to facilitate international payments through the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The CME’s cash-settled contracts—offered in standard (50,000 XRP) and micro (2,500 XRP) sizes—are priced using the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, calculated daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.

These futures provide traders with exposure to XRP’s price movements without direct ownership, further expanding the cryptocurrency’s accessibility in regulated markets. The early trading data highlights XRP’s growing appeal among institutional and international investors.

(Word count: ~200, optimized for clarity and conciseness while retaining key details.)

Key Improvements:

• Stronger headline – Clearly states the topic and key metric.
• Streamlined structure – Removes redundancy (e.g., “the exchange’s spokesperson” → “A CME spokesperson”).
• Global focus emphasized – Highlights non-U.S. demand upfront.
• Technical clarity – Explains contract sizes and settlement simply.
• Removed price footnote – The original $2.29 reference was outdated in context.