To address the poor fault tolerance and misjudgment in closed-loop distribution networks of existing fault location methods, misjudgement for the location of closed-loop operating distribution network, etc. As a result, a phase-to-phase fault location method of active distribution networks based on the principle of rank correlation coefficient has been proposed by using the direction and magnitude information of the positive sequence overcurrent. The suspected fault area is divided based on the measurement point state information to reduce the solution space dimension. The expected measurement point rank function is established and a new fitness function is proposed based on the principle of the coefficient of rank correlation. Then, the improved binary marine predators algorithm (IBMPA) is used to find the minimum value of the fitness function, searching for the fault feeder. Simulation tests are carried out in the IEEE 123-node active distribution network. The test results show that this fault location method can accurately locate the fault feeder in both single-point and two-point faults, and it has a high fault tolerance for distorted information. This method can ensure the accuracy of the location even in the presence of transitional resistance, and the closure of interconnection switches to form a ring network, and so on.