Volatility Shares is preparing to launch the first-ever 1x XRP futures ETF on May 22

The new product, trading under the ticker “XRPI”, will mark the first single exposure XRP futures ETF in the United States.

Volatility Shares is set to launch the first-ever 1x XRP futures ETF on May 22, offering single exposure to the cryptocurrency's futures.

The new product, trading under the ticker “XRPI,” will mark the first single exposure XRP futures ETF in the United States.

According to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, Volatility Shares will introduce the XRPI ETF, offering 1x exposure to XRP futures.

While a 2x leveraged XRP futures ETF already exists and has gathered $120 million in assets under management, trading around $35 million daily, this will be the first ETF to offer unleveraged exposure to XRP futures.

The 1x product is expected to appeal to investors seeking less volatility than what leveraged products offer.

Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) postponed its decision on two separate spot XRP ETF applications.

These applications were filed by asset managers 21Shares and Franklin Templeton.

The SEC had set a May 22 deadline for its ruling on the two spot ETF proposals. However, the regulator has extended the decision to June 17, 2025.

This marks another delay in the SEC's approval process for crypto-linked spot ETFs, as the regulator continues to assess potential risks and market readiness.

Despite the delay, optimism around approval has grown, with prediction market Polymarket showing over 80% of traders betting that a spot ETF will gain approval sometime in 2025.

According to data from Bitwise Asset Management, the two firms had filed for seven different XRP ETFs in total.

The news comes as institutional interest in XRP-related products continues to grow.

The Teucrium 2x Short-Term Harvest Total Return (NYSE: WEAX) ETF, which offers leveraged exposure to XRP price movements, has gathered over $106 million in assets under management.

This indicates demand for exposure to XRP in structured financial products.

In other developments, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has launched futures contracts on XRP.

These contracts are settled in cash and benchmarked to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate.

On the first day of trading, CME recorded more than $2.4 million in combined volume across standard and micro XRP contracts.

However, figures from analyst Chad Steingraber show that trading volume has reached $19 million.

As of press time, XRP price is holding the $2.25 price level, having recently bounced from the macro .382 Fibonacci level.

Analysts say the $2.25 support is critical for maintaining the current bullish market structure.

Concurrent with the price trend, a large whale has moved 236,982,972 XRP ($567m) from Kraken to an unknown wallet stirring worries about the potential price trend.

According to market analyst CasiTrades, “XRP continues to hold strong within bullish correction territory… the macro .5 retracement at $1.90 was cleanly respected.”

However, resistance remains around $2.375, which could lead to another test of the $2.25 support zone.

Despite strong technical support, XRP price has not yet broken above macro resistance at $2.69.

Until that happens, potential downside targets as low as $1.50 remain in view, based on Elliott Wave analysis models.