thecryptobasic.com
$XRP whales have procured a whopping 550 million $XRP in two weeks as smaller addresses sell off their bags, fueling speculation of a retail shakeout.
Amid the market downturn, $XRP is witnessing mixed sentiments across different tiers of investors. The behavior exhibited by these addresses has compounded speculation around a retail shakeout by institutions.
Retail Investors Distribute 8M $XRP
$XRP Liquidity, a community-based account tracking Ripple’s ODL operations and XRPL wallet activity, is at the forefront of this speculation. Citing data from Rich-List.info, the account recently revealed plans to prove the trend of institutional buyups and retail dumps.
In a disclosure on May 16, the account showed that investors holding between 20 and 10,000 $XRP had a cumulative balance of 2.274 billion $XRP.
Since January 2024 down 98.63M $XRP from the 20 to 100K Group. https://t.co/02jjyKjllr pic.twitter.com/3dsAXJ8cxV
— $XRP_LIQUIDITY (@XRPwallets) May 16, 2024
However, the latest data sourced by Rich List confirms that this balance has reduced to 2.266 billion tokens. This indicates that these wallets have distributed over 8 million $XRP since May.
The ongoing distribution campaign comes at a time when $XRP’s price has collapsed 15.3%.$XRP Liquidity further suggested that addresses holding 20 to 100,000 $XRP distributed 98.36 million tokens from January to May.
Whales Procure 550M $XRP
Meanwhile, in a contrasting trend, whale addresses, specifically those holding between 100 million to 500 million $XRP, have been on a massive accumulation spree despite the market challenges.
At the time of the May 16 disclosure, these addresses held 11.376 billion $XRP. However, the latest data reveals these addresses now boast a balance of 11.579 billion tokens. This figure reveals that these wallets procured about 203 million $XRP in six weeks.
In addition, wallets holding between 1 million and 20 million $XRP have accumulated 347 million $XRP over the last six weeks. Cumulatively, investors holding 10 million to 20 million and the ones with 100 million to 500 million have amassed 550 million $XRP since May 16.
A Bullish Trend
With this purchase spree among whales coming at a time when smaller addresses have sold off over 8 million $XRP, the suggestion that institutions might be shaking out retail investors has taken center stage. While this remains speculative, such a trend can be bullish for the market, as it indicates conviction among large investors.
For instance, in a recent report, CryptoQuant confirmed that the recent Bitcoin (BTC) drop had triggered selloffs among less convicted addresses. These addresses, holding between 3 to 6 months, sold off $2.4 billion. However, the trend is bullish, as it ensures the shakeout of less convicted investors, leaving the market healthy.
The same pattern is observed in the $XRP market. Nonetheless, this does not only affect retail investors as data shows large investors are also capitulating at a higher pace. Wallets holding 20 million to 100 million $XRP have distributed 169 million since May 16.
Interestingly, large whales with 500 million to 1 billion $XRP have distributed the most tokens. These investors have moved out 1.23 billion $XRP in six weeks. Meanwhile, $XRP’s price has stabilized at the $0.43 level. It is currently trading for $0.4388 amid a 0.85% gain this morning. $XRP is up 4.66% in the last three days.