Ripple Whale Activity Zooms to Record High, But Signs of Concerns

XRP prices have zoomed 430% in the past 30 days, reaching price levels last seen in 2018 and leaving scores of Crypto Twitter traders surprised with the strength. The rise started in early November after the Republican victory in the U.S. election reignited investor confidence in tokens linked to U.S. companies, including XRP’s associated Ripple Labs.

Large holders are playing a key role in contributing to the move. CryptoQuant data shows whale activity – which tracks movements from large wallets to and from exchanges – has been consistently elevated since the past month, multiples higher than any other period.

Whales can move markets with their buying or selling pressure, and tracking this can indicate their market sentiment.

For instance, if the cryptocurrency’s inflow into exchanges (Exchange Inflows) is significant, it might suggest that whales are preparing to sell, potentially signaling a bearish market trend. Conversely, large outflows from exchanges might indicate accumulation by whales, which could be bullish.

However, such whale movements tend to coincide with local peaks, CryptoQuant’s contributing analyst Woominkyu said in a post Monday, as sophisticated participants sell on retail inflows.

“Historically, significant spikes in whale-to-exchange transactions (marked by red circles) align closely with XRP price peaks,” Woominkyu stated. “This suggests that whales tend to move large amounts of XRP to exchanges to sell near local or cycle tops.”

“The latest spike in whale-to-exchange activity coincides with XRP reaching a local price of around $2.3. This could indicate whales preparing for potential profit-taking or increased market activity,” Woominkyu added.

XRP is up 14% in the past 24 hours, outperforming bitcoin and all other crypto majors, according to CoinDesk data. The token flipped Solana’s SOL and tether (USDT) in quick succession over the weekend — standing as the third-largest token by market cap as on Tuesday.