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The number of 1INCH tokens held in wallets tied to centralized exchange on Tuesday rose to a record high of over 184.28 million ($65 million), according to data tracked by analytics firm Glassnode.
The so-called exchange balance has increased by 50% in three days, with the tally representing 18.65% of the circulating supply of 987.6 million and 12.2% of the total supply of 1.5 billion. 1INCH is the native token of decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch, launched in December 2020.
Investors typically move coins to exchanges when intending to sell or deploy coins as margin for trading derivatives. Hence, a notable increase in balance held in exchange wallets is widely considered a precursor of price volatility.
1INCH fell by 10% to 36 cents on Tuesday, registering its biggest single-day (UTC) decline since June 10, data from charting platform TradingView show. The cryptocurrency changed hands at 35 cents at press time, down 18% for the week. The decline has reversed most of the token's surge from 30 cents to nearly 60 cents observed in seven days to July 16.
Per Prithvir Jhaveri, co-founder and CEO of Loch Research, profit taking by a whale is one of the factors responsible for the price drop.
"The whale who initiated the pump decreased his holdings to 91m tokens, which is less than what he held before the pump," Jhaveri tweeted late Tuesday. "The whale sold at the top in conjunction with Celsius selling."
On Monday, bankrupt crypto lender Celsius moved more than a million worth of ZRX, 1INCH and Tether's gold-pegged stablecoin XAUT to institutional crypto exchange FalconX, potentially to liquidate them for bitcoin and ether.Disclaimer: This article was written and edited by CoinDesk journalists with the sole purpose of informing the reader with accurate information. If you click on a link from Glassnode, CoinDesk may earn a commission. For more, see our Ethics Policy.