XRP Fades After CLARITY Act Sparks 5% Surge — But Derivatives Say the Real Move Hasn't Come Yet!

XRP briefly spiked to $1.5417 during the May 14 18:00 UTC session — its highest print in weeks — before fading back toward the $1.46 area as traders locked in profits near resistance. The catalyst was the Senate Banking Committee's scheduled markup of the CLARITY Act, legislation that could formally classify XRP as a commodity and remove a layer of regulatory ambiguity that has shadowed the token for years.

Underneath the surface, the positioning tells a more bullish story than the price action alone. XRP exchange-traded products absorbed $40 million in net inflows during the week ending May 8, pushing year-to-date inflows to $191 million. Binance open interest climbed to its highest level in weeks, and ETF flows recorded their strongest single-day session since January earlier this week — all signals that traders are building exposure ahead of a catalyst rather than fading the…