GraniteShares has delayed the launch of its 3x Long and 3x Short XRP ETFs from April 23 to May 7, marking the 5th launch delay in three weeks.
The 3x Short XRP ETF would be the first regulated way to short XRP at 3x leverage through a standard US brokerage account.
ProShares withdrew its identical 3x XRP ETF in December 2025 after the SEC pushback. But if GraniteShares delays again on May 7, these 3x XRP ETFs may never launch in 2026.
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GraniteShares’ 3x Long and 3x Short XRP ETFs were supposed to launch on NASDAQ today, April 23. Instead, the launch got postponed to May 7, marking the fifth delay in three weeks.
The effective date has moved from April 2 to April 9, to April 16, to April 23, and now to May 7. GraniteShares filed the delay under Rule 485, which lets issuers shift launch dates without restarting the approval process. So what does this mean for XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), and what should you watch before May 7?
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The amendment GraniteShares filed uses Rule 485, a mechanism that lets issuers move launch dates without restarting the full approval process. So, the filing today only moves the launch date. Nothing about the products or review status actually changes—the filing stays live, and the clock just resets to May 7.
GraniteShares has eight leveraged funds tied to the same filing. There are 3x Long and 3x Short versions for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. And all eight have been moved to May 7. Whatever the SEC is working through has to do with the 3x structure itself, and that hits all four assets the same way.
Five delays in three weeks sounds alarming, but the filing mechanism itself is routine. Volatility Shares did the same thing with its 2x XRP ETF in December 2025. The filing kept getting pushed until the regulator was comfortable, and then it launched.
The SEC reviews leveraged products more carefully than spot ETFs because daily rebalancing can create real risks for retail investors. 3x products get the most scrutiny of all, which is why they take the longest to clear. So, May 7 is GraniteShares’ next checkpoint with the regulator.
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When these products go live, traders will be able to take 3x leveraged positions on XRP, long or short, through a regular brokerage account. The 3x Long XRP Daily ETF targets 300% of XRP’s daily move, so if XRP rises 2% on a given day, the fund aims for a 6% gain before fees. Neither fund holds actual XRP. Both use swaps and futures to track XRP’s price, and everything settles in cash.
The 3x Short is the more significant of the two launches. Until now, there’s been no clean way for U.S. retail traders to short XRP at high leverage. Kraken’s futures platform offers fixed-term XRP futures for U.S. clients, but that’s a separate platform most casual XRP investors don’t touch. The other options are crypto exchange perpetual futures, which most U.S. traders can’t access anyway. The 3x Short XRP ETF changes that. Anyone with a brokerage account will be able to open a 3x short position on XRP once the fund launches.
However, both products come with one big catch: they’re only for short-term holding. The daily reset means that in choppy markets, the fund’s return can drift far from 3x XRP’s actual move. GraniteShares makes it clear in the prospectus: these are for active traders who watch their positions daily, and holding for more than a few days isn’t recommended. But all of that waits for launch day, whenever that actually is.
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The two-week delay on its own probably won’t move the XRP price much. XRP trades at $1.43 right now, stuck inside the $1.30 to $1.50 range it’s been in for the past three months. The 3x ETFs were never going to be XRP’s biggest catalyst anyway as they’re built for active traders, and they don’t attract the big institutional money that could move XRP’s price..
What could actually move the XRP price between now and May 7 is the CLARITY Act, the FOMC meeting, and the war situation. The CLARITY Act markup is expected in the Senate Banking Committee by early May, and it’s the biggest regulatory catalyst XRP has left this year.
The FOMC also meets April 28-29 for what’s likely Powell’s final meeting as chair, with rates widely expected to stay at 3.50-3.75%. And the Iran war situation has remained in play after the Strait of Hormuz was closed again on April 18. Any changes in either of these catalysts could trigger the XRP price to push through $1.45 or dip back to $1.30 before the ETFs even launch.
So by May 7, XRP’s price will already reflect whatever those catalysts did. If the CLARITY Act clears committee and Powell strikes a softer tone, XRP could be trading above $1.50 with real momentum when the ETFs launch. On the other hand, if the markup stalls and the war escalates further, XRP could be retesting $1.30 on launch day. The delay moves the launch date, but it also changes the market those ETFs will launch into.
The question most XRP holders aren’t asking is whether these 3x ETFs will launch at all. GraniteShares is trying to launch 3x XRP products while the SEC is already pushing back on the exact same structure.
In December 2025, the SEC sent formal letters to ProShares, Direxion, and Tidal Financial about their 3x leveraged ETFs. The regulator cited Rule 18f-4, which caps fund leverage at 200%. ProShares withdrew its entire 3x crypto lineup in response—including a 3x XRP ETF that’s essentially the same product GraniteShares is trying to launch now.
So the real trigger to watch is what happens by May 7. If GraniteShares launches on schedule, it means that this was just a routine delay, like Volatility Shares’ 2x XRP. But if it gets delayed a sixth time, that signals the SEC is likely heading in the same direction it did with ProShares, and these 3x XRP ETFs may never launch in 2026.
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