According to data from CoinGlass, the volume of derivatives trading on XRP has literally skyrocketed by 60% in the past few hours.

The metric, which tracks the turnover of perpetual futures mostly on the popular cryptocurrency, has seen its counter set at $1.22 billion, which is nearly 60% more than the previous 24 hours. By this margin, XRP currently leads the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins.

The increase in trading activity on the seventh largest cryptocurrency has also been seen on the spot market, where CoinMarketCap data shows that volume totaled $1.21 billion in the last 24 hours. This is already 40% higher than the day before. 

The best way to estimate the level of engagement and trading activity for the token is to compare its volume, which for XRP totals $2.43 billion, to the token's market cap, which currently stands at $30.68 billion for XRP. 

Calculating the ratio gives us a figure of 7.92%, which characterizes the level of engagement and trading activity as fairly normal, albeit higher than usual. 

Why?

This could be due to the Columbus Day holiday, which was celebrated in the U.S. yesterday, and therefore the stock markets were closed. Even though the cryptocurrency market is not tied to a common habitat and is active 24/7, its trading activity is still closely correlated to the traditional fund market. 

The other reason is the roller coaster price action seen on the market today, as the price of Bitcoin continues to make headlines for its march to a new all-time high, and alternative digital assets react to such disruptions. 

As a result of this extended volatility, cryptocurrency derivatives traders suffered a staggering $266.34 million in liquidation.