XRP tops $1.50 toward $1.60 as futures open interest jumps to $2.73B and XRPL holders reach 7.7M

XRP started a steady upward move above $1.50 and traded toward the $1.60 zone, holding above the 100‑hour simple moving average and a bullish trend line with support near $1.522 on Kraken hourly data; analysts noted a decisive settlement above $1.58 would support further upside ^[1].

Derivatives activity increased as XRP open interest rose to a one‑month peak of $2.73 billion while the token retested the $1.50 resistance, signaling higher leverage and participation in futures markets ^[2].

On‑chain metrics showed the XRPL reached a new milestone of 7.7 million holders according to Santiment, reflecting increased ledger adoption and user activity concurrent with the price rally ^[3].

In the US spot fund market on March 16, Bitcoin ETFs recorded $202 million of inflows (a sixth straight day) and Ethereum ETFs $35.89 million, while XRP ETF flows were negative with a $5.98 million daily outflow, per SoSoValue data ^[4].

Market commentary highlighted technical risks alongside the rally: one analysis pointed to a possible triple‑bottom that could close near $0.91 before a next leg up, and a separate long‑range chart projection suggested XRP may need multiple macro cycles to reach $100, a price‑based projection rather than a time estimate ^{[5] [6]}.

Short‑term momentum is supported by price action, rising open interest and growing XRPL holders, but negative spot ETF flows for XRP and identified technical structures present mixed signals for the near term ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}.