Whales Are Betting Big on XRP—But Retail Investors Aren’t Convinced
XRP’s price has been shaky lately, dipping and climbing without much clear direction. But behind the scenes, something interesting is happening. Whales—those big investors who move markets—are gobbling up huge amounts of XRP, even as smaller traders seem to back away.
On-chain data shows over 420 million XRP, worth nearly $915 million, was scooped up in just seven days. That’s a serious vote of confidence from deep-pocketed investors. At the same time, new wallet creation has slowed to a two-month low. Maybe retail folks are waiting to see where this goes. Or maybe they’re just not interested right now.
Big Moves Behind the Scenes
A few days ago, XRP jumped 6% in an hour, with more than 108 million tokens changing hands. Whales were all over that rally. Then, on June 18, Ripple shifted 200 million XRP—roughly $439 million—to an unknown wallet. Could be institutional. Could be something else. Either way, it’s a lot of money on the move.
But it’s not just Ripple making noise. Between June 12 and June 19, three separate transactions sent over 80 million XRP (about $175 million) to Coinbase. That’s usually a sign whales are getting ready to cash out—or at least lock in some profits.
Earlier, there were even bigger shuffles: 230 million XRP moved from Ripple to an unknown wallet, and another 50 million swapped between two mystery addresses. When this much XRP starts bouncing around, it usually means *something* is brewing.
Is a Breakout Coming?
Right now, XRP is hovering around $2.18, up a bit over the past day. It’s been a slow climb since dipping below $2 earlier in the week. The real test? Holding above $2.20. If it can’t, we might see it slide back toward $2.05.
There are some encouraging signs, though. The number of wallets holding at least 1 million XRP just hit an all-time high of 2,850. And daily active addresses spiked by 442.7% in 24 hours, hitting 181,000. That’s not just whales—that’s real people using the network.
Technically, things are… fine. Not amazing, not terrible. Momentum indicators are slightly bullish, and short-term moving averages look decent. But those longer-term resistance levels? Still in the way.
So, what’s next? If whales keep buying and retail interest picks up, we might see a real push. But if the little guys stay on the sidelines, XRP could keep churning in this range for a while. Either way, the big players aren’t waiting around to find out.
