Goldman Sachs disclosed $86.5 million of exposure across five spot XRP ETFs as of June 30, reversing a Q1 exit. XRP whale futures accounts are building long positions, yet smart-money indicators on Binance and Bybit remain bearish, and a Coinbase order-book snapshot shows buy and sell walls boxing the token near its current price.
Goldman Sachs' latest Form 13F shows $86.5 million of exposure across five spot XRP ETFs, including roughly $25.8 million in Bitwise's XRP ETF and $25.4 million in Franklin Templeton's XRPZ, plus positions in Canary Capital, Grayscale, and 21Shares products. The bank had reported no XRP ETF exposure at the end of Q1, after exiting positions that were worth approximately $153.8 million at the end of 2025. A 13F filing does not reveal why Goldman holds the ETFs, since banks can carry such positions for client activity, hedging, or market-making rather than a directional bet.
Whale accounts turn long, but sentiment stays mixed
Derivatives positioning is leaning toward the upside. Trader CW (@CW8900) pointed to XRP futures data showing whale-position long/short ratios of 2.18 on Binance and as high as 23.38 on OKX, meaning long exposure substantially exceeded short exposure in those categories. CW said "preparations for the XRP rally are proceeding steadily." But Binance smart-money sentiment improved only from "extremely bearish" to "bearish," while Bybit remained extremely bearish. Taker activity was similarly split: the latest 24-hour snapshot showed roughly $3.94 billion in long-side volume against $4.08 billion in short-side volume, leaving sellers a narrow 50.86% advantage.
Coinbase order book keeps XRP boxed in
With XRP trading around $1.53 on Aug. 25, CW's latest order-book analysis shows sizeable Coinbase liquidity on both sides of the market. Visible sell liquidity included roughly $1.69 million around $1.5421, with larger walls including about $2.08 million near $1.70, $3.07 million around $1.75, and $8.87 million near $2.25. Below the price, the same snapshot showed approximately $3.23 million of buy liquidity around $1.50. CW called this evidence that Coinbase whales are deliberately holding the price in a range, though an order-book snapshot cannot reveal the intentions behind the orders. The more defensible read is that XRP faces substantial liquidity on both sides, with the buy wall near $1.50 offering short-term support while sell liquidity toward $1.70 could make an upside breakout harder.
What a run to $5 would take
From about $1.53, XRP would need to rise roughly 227% to reach $5, which with roughly 62.7 billion XRP circulating would imply a market cap of approximately $314 billion. According to CW, high-leverage short positions face key resistance up to $1.564, above which overhead short resistance essentially vanishes, though total liquidation volume remains relatively small given lower high-leverage positioning across the futures market. Recent ETF demand offers one potential source of spot buying: US XRP ETFs attracted around $39.8 million during Aug. 17-21, their strongest week since May, taking cumulative inflows to roughly $1.55 billion. For now, Goldman has returned to XRP ETFs and whale accounts are leaning long, but the order book shows why XRP is still struggling to turn that positioning into a clean breakout.
Source: CCN
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
