Perpetual Funding Rates Signal Strong Bullish Demand for XRP and Other Top Altcoins

Perpetual funding rates are pointing to bullish sentiment among leading altcoins, with XRP showing the highest demand for leveraged long positions, even as Bitcoin starts the historically weak third quarter with little price movement.

Funding rates, which exchanges charge every eight hours on perpetual futures contracts (which have no expiry), reflect the cost of holding long or short positions. A positive funding rate means longs pay shorts because the perpetual contract is trading at a premium to the spot price. This is generally taken as a sign of bullish sentiment. Conversely, negative funding rates imply bearishness.

According to data from Velo, XRP perpetual futures are currently commanding an annualized funding rate close to 11%—the highest among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Tron’s TRX and Dogecoin (DOGE) follow with rates around 10% and 8.4%, respectively. Meanwhile, the funding rates for Bitcoin and Ethereum remain only slightly positive.

This indicates that XRP traders are the most eager among major cryptos to hold leveraged bullish positions. This trend aligns with a recent spike in bullish sentiment for XRP, despite ongoing delays in its regulatory settlement with the SEC, as observed by on-chain analytics provider Santiment.

Beyond the top ten tokens, privacy coin Monero (XMR) stands out with an even higher funding rate above 23%, signaling strong bullish demand. On the flip side, Stellar’s XLM shows a steep negative funding rate of -24%, indicating a strong bias towards bearish positions.

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Bitcoin’s Seasonally Weak Quarter Begins

Historically, Bitcoin’s third quarter is the slowest of the year, with an average gain of just 5.57% since 2013, according to Coinglass data. This is in stark contrast to the fourth quarter, which averages an 85% gain.

At press time, Bitcoin’s price remains steady near $107,000, showing no clear directional bias. For nearly 50 days, BTC has traded within a narrow range between $100,000 and $110,000. This sideways action reflects a balance between selling by long-term holders and inflows into U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Many market watchers anticipate a significant move soon, with attention focused on key upcoming events such as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Tuesday and the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due Friday.