XRP news today: CME Launches XRP Futures, Boosting Altcoin Market Expansion

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced the launch of XRP futures, scheduled to go live on May 19. This development has sparked optimism within the cryptocurrency community, as it is seen as a potential catalyst for market expansion for the altcoin. The futures will be settled in USD and will come in two categories: larger-sized XRP futures, which will be 50,000 XRP, and micro XRP futures, which will be 2,500 XRP. Futures are financial instruments that allow parties to buy or sell assets at a set price on a specified future date, primarily used for hedging and speculating on price movements.

This move makes XRP the fourth asset to debut on the CME Futures, following Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Ripple founder Brad Garlinghouse welcomed the news, stating that it was "overdue" and would significantly contribute to the growth of the XRP market. He expressed his excitement about this development, highlighting its importance in the continued growth of the XRP market. Sal Gilbertie, CEO of Teucrium, also supported the launch of XRP futures, citing the strong demand for the altcoin as evidenced by the performance of the Teucrium 2x Daily Long XRP ETF, which reached $35 million in assets under management within its first 10 trading days.

Since November 2024, XRP has become the third-largest crypto asset with a market cap of $128 billion, excluding stablecoin Tether’s USDT. Giovanni Vicioso, global head of crypto products at CME Group, emphasized that the new futures contracts will provide efficient hedging strategies, catering to the growing interest in XRP and its underlying ledger (XRPL) as institutional and retail adoption increases. He noted that these new contracts will offer a capital-efficient toolset to support clients’ investment and hedging strategies.

Despite the positive developments, the price action of XRP remained sluggish, possibly due to reports indicating that the China-U.S. tariff wars were not close to being resolved as earlier speculated. However, XRP managed to hold above the key $2.1 level on the price chart. If bulls maintain their position above this support, the altcoin could potentially reach $2.4. Conversely, a breach of this level by short-sellers could drag the price towards the 200-day moving average at $1.9.