- Bitwise’s XRP ETF saw $21.7M in turnover and over 1.13M shares traded but closed 7% lower on its first day.
- Canary’s XRPC remains far ahead with $292.61M in cumulative inflows and strong ongoing demand.
- Official inflow numbers arriving on 21 November will reveal whether Bitwise attracted true institutional capital or mostly secondary trading.
Bitwise’s brand-new XRP ETF hit the market with a surprisingly active first day, even if the price didn’t quite hold up. The fund opened at $24.15, traded as high as that same opening print, slipped down to $22.12, and eventually closed at $22.46—roughly a 7% drop from the start. Turnover reached about $21.7 million just three hours before the closing bell, according to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart. By the end of the session, total dollar volume pushed closer to $26 million, showing that traders and market makers were definitely paying attention. More than 1.13 million shares moved, which is a decent amount of activity for a brand-new ETF stepping into a competitive market.
Competing with Canary’s already-dominant XRPC
The challenge for Bitwise is that it’s not launching into an empty lane—Canary got here first. Canary’s XRPC has already built serious momentum, with $292.61 million in cumulative inflows and $268.88 million in total net assets. It even pulled another $15.82 million in net inflows on 19 November alone, which is the kind of number that shows institutions are still coming through the door days after its launch. Bitwise’s debut doesn’t overshadow Canary, but Seyffart called the turnover “impressive,” and Valkyrie CIO Steven McClurg even gave them a shoutout, saying you don’t need to be BlackRock to build a successful ETF. A nice little nod from the competition.
Price dips as XRP itself wobbles, raising questions about real inflows
The ETF didn’t fall in a vacuum either. XRP’s spot market dealt with its own volatility throughout the day, and the ETF basically mirrored those swings point-for-point. That’s part of why the close felt a bit heavy. The bigger question floating around is whether the strong trading came from new institutional inflows or whether it was mostly secondary-market activity bouncing around between traders. First-day trading doesn’t actually tell you how much money entered the fund—only the settlement cycle will.
Tomorrow’s update from issuers and authorized participants will reveal the real inflow figure, and platforms like SoSoValue, Farside Investors, and Bloomberg Terminal will start showing the numbers on 21 November. Bitwise has pitched its ETF as a low-fee U.S.-regulated way to get XRP exposure, but whether it can catch up to Canary’s massive head start depends entirely on what those first official flow numbers look like.
An early test for Bitwise as the XRP ETF race heats up
For now, Bitwise has shown it can attract attention and liquidity right out of the gate, even if the price action closed in the red. The debut proves there’s room for multiple XRP ETFs, but it also highlights how far ahead Canary is in terms of inflows and total assets. If tomorrow’s data shows meaningful institutional allocations, Bitwise might start closing the gap. If not, the ETF may need more time—and maybe a steadier XRP market—to gain traction.
