Leading Majors XRP, TRX, and DOGE Maintain Positive Funding Rates Amid Bitcoin’s Historically Challenging Quarter

XRP Tops Bullish Demand as Perpetual Funding Rates Signal Optimism Among Altcoins

Perpetual funding rates reveal growing bullish sentiment across major altcoins, with XRP leading the pack by showing the highest demand for leveraged long positions. This optimism comes as Bitcoin begins its historically weak third quarter with little price movement.

Funding rates, which exchanges charge every eight hours on perpetual futures contracts with no expiry, reflect the cost to hold long or short positions. A positive funding rate means longs pay shorts due to futures trading above spot prices, indicating bullish market sentiment. Negative rates imply a bearish outlook.

According to Velo data, XRP’s annualized funding rate is close to 11%, the highest among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Tron’s TRX and Dogecoin also show strong funding rates at around 10% and 8.4%, respectively. Bitcoin and Ethereum have slightly positive rates.

This data underscores XRP’s strong appetite for leveraged bullish exposure, matching a recent increase in bullish sentiment despite delays in Ripple’s settlement with the SEC, as reported by Santiment.

Outside the top 10, Monero (XMR) exhibits an even stronger bullish bias with a funding rate exceeding 23%, while Stellar’s XLM shows a sharp negative funding rate near -24%, signaling bearish bets.

Bitcoin’s Seasonal Weakness Persists

Historically, Bitcoin’s third quarter tends to be sluggish, averaging only a 5.57% gain since 2013, compared to the robust 85% average gain in the fourth quarter, per Coinglass data.

Currently, Bitcoin’s price hovers near $107,000, remaining rangebound between $100,000 and $110,000 for nearly 50 days. This reflects a tug-of-war between long-term holder selling and ETF inflows.

Investors await Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming speech and the release of the nonfarm payroll report later this week, which could prompt significant market movement.