Over the past week or so, a significant amount of XRP has been on the move. We’re talking about a lot of money—something close to $470 million, according to one analyst. That’s a pretty hefty sum changing hands in a relatively short period.
But before anyone gets too worried, it’s worth looking at the whole picture. Trading volume hasn’t exactly dried up. In fact, it’s been holding steady, which is a pretty important detail. It’s not just a one-way street out of the asset.
Analysts See Redistribution, Not Panic
James Toledo, who leads Unity Wallet, mentioned that while this kind of heavy selling can sometimes push prices down in the short term, the fact that volumes are still there is a good sign. He actually sounded a bit surprised by the size of the sell-off, noting that the overall mood around XRP still seems pretty positive.
He pointed to neutral funding rates and retail wallets that are still accumulating XRP. That combination suggests something more like a redistribution—big players maybe taking some profit, while others see a chance to get in. It’s not necessarily a sign of a crash.
At the moment, XRP is sitting around $2.90, down just a bit for the day. It’s a fair bit off its record high of $3.65 from last month, though. It even dipped under the $3 mark over the weekend, which it hadn’t done since the start of August.
Whale Movements Aren’t Just an XRP Story
It turns out this isn’t just happening with XRP. Other major cryptocurrencies are seeing similar activity. Data from Santiment shows that large transactions for both XRP and Cardano hit a five-month high in August. And Bitcoin whales have been incredibly active, too. One moved a staggering $8 billion in a single day last month—the biggest movement in Bitcoin’s history.
So what does all this movement mean? Dean Chen, an analyst at Bitunix, thinks it signals more of a reshuffling than a mass exit. He calls it “redistribution.” Still, his short-term outlook is cautious. He’s leaning “range-bearish,” meaning he expects the price to maybe drift sideways or even lower for a bit.
He’s watching a few key levels. If XRP can’t push back above $3.30, he thinks it might test support around $2.78. A break below that could see it slide toward $2.60. For things to really turn bullish again, he says we’d need to see a strong, high-volume move back above that $3.30 level.
The Bigger Picture: ETFs and Inflows
There are other factors at play, too. Last week, investment products based on XRP saw inflows of nearly $126 million. That’s not nothing. It trailed behind Solana funds, but it’s still a solid show of interest.
And looking ahead, the potential for more U.S.-based ETFs is still there. Grayscale and Bitwise got approval to start trading them earlier this summer, though the SEC has since paused their actual launch. It’s a waiting game now.
So yeah, the whales are moving. But the ocean is pretty big. It doesn’t always mean a storm is coming. Sometimes it just means the currents are changing.
