A massive redistribution of supply continues in the $XRP market, as large long-term investors are currently increasing their positions at the $1 level, fully offsetting the decline in institutional interest that pushed exchange-traded funds' net assets below the symbolic $1 billion mark.
The accumulation process appears to have entered a continuous phase. According to on-chain analytics platform Santiment, large-holder wallets added another 72 million $XRP over the past 24 hours.
How whales replace ETFs at $1 for $XRP
This inflow extends the previously recorded trend — including the latest purchases, whales have accumulated more than 452 million tokens over the past several weeks. Their combined balances have reached 12.18 billion $XRP, while the number of wallets holding more than 1 million coins has increased by 32 in recent months.
At the same time, according to SoSoValue data, inflows into spot $XRP ETFs have stalled. During the entire first half of August, the funds attracted a symbolic $3.27 million, while the trading sessions on Aug. 10, 11 and 12 all closed with zero net flows.
Against this backdrop, the exchange-traded funds' net assets under management (AUM) fell to $942.25 million, officially dropping below the $1 billion threshold.
With funds retreating from the market, the price decline would likely have continued, but whales' reaction to the $1 level kept the price near this area.
The reason large orders were placed specifically here becomes clear when looking at the weekly chart, where at $1, the token touched a major support line that has held since late 2024.
At the same time, $XRP Ledger's internal metrics show that the average daily number of active network addresses jumped from 26,400 to 35,700, although the number of new users remains stagnant at approximately 2,260 per day.
This suggests that established, experienced holders were the ones who entered the market at $1. Continuous buying by whales is replacing the liquidity lost from ETFs and remains the main barrier preventing $XRP from capitulating toward $0.90 and below.
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