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After the rapid industry-wide retracement that followed the brief USDC-deg on March 10, the global crypto market cap bounced back above $1.2 trillion in April. Will the intensifying activity from the whales push the rally further?
Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade and Bitcoin’s surge above $30,000 have dominated the media headlines recently. However, On-chain data reveals that strategic large investors have been paying lopsided attention to a handful of altcoins.
The Crypto Market Cap has jumped by 5% since the start of April. On-chain data reveals the direction that large institutional investors are turning their attention to make the most of the crypto rally.
Crypto Whales Defend The Graph ($GRT) at the $0.10 Support
The Graph is a blockchain data indexing protocol that powers many applications in DeFi and the wider Web3 ecosystem. By March 11, the $GRT token had declined nearly 48% from its year-to-date high of $0.20.
Between the recent local low of $0.11 recorded on March 9, the whales holding 1 million to 10 million coins have added 13 million tokens worth about $2 million.
With $GRT now trading around $0.15, the accumulation wave among whale investors appears to have triggered a price resurgence.
Lido DAO ($LDO) Whales Front-Running the Shapella Upgrade Success
Lido DAO ($LDO) is the native token for Lido Finance, a DeFi platform that facilitates Ethereum 2.0 staking via liquidity staking derivative. Soon after the Ethereum network upgrade was announced in March, crypto whales began to stack their $LDO bags. The timing implies that the large investors looked to front-run gains from increased trading activity that could follow the network upgrade.
In recent weeks, the $LDO coin has witnessed increased buying momentum from crypto whales holding million to 10 million $LDO. The chart below shows how whales bought nearly 33 million tokens between March 5 and April 12. At the press time market value of $2.39, the accumulated tokens are worth about $80 million.
When whales invest such significant sums within a short period, it instills confidence in other network participants. If the crypto whales continue to HODL, $LDO could soon break above the $3 milestone.
Crypto Whales Cohort Remain Undeterred Despite Litecoin ($LTC) Struggles
On Feb. 15, Litecoin briefly broke above $100 for the first time since May 2022. However, the rally was shortlived as $LTC quickly retraced below $70 by March 11. Interestingly, this volatility has not deterred the cohort of crypto whales holding 1 million to 10 million $LTC coins.
According to Santiment, this whale cohort began buying weeks before $LTC reached the year-to-date high of $102 on Feb. 15.
The following chart shows that the whales bought 2.37 million $LTC between Feb 3 and April 12.
At current prices of $94, the newly added tokens are worth over $220 million. If the whales continue to pile on, it is only a matter of time before $LTC breaks the $100 barrier again.
Optimism (OP) Whales Remain Positive Despite Sideways Price Action
Optimism (OP) is a layer-two blockchain built on the Ethereum network. It improves the scalability of Ethereum, keeping trustless roll-up records of transactions before they are ultimately secured on Ethereum.
OP has delivered a see-saw performance the past week, but on-chain data shows that crypto whales remain optimistic. Between March 1 and April 12, the whales with 1 million to 10 million OP in their wallet balances have added 256 million tokens.
The newly added 256 million OP tokens are worth nearly $490 million at current prices of $2.39. Though the price has declined 13% within the same period, the whale accumulation trend could soon trigger a rebound.
Toncoin ($TON) Whales Are Back in Action
Toncoin ($TON) is the native token of the decentralized layer-1 blockchain developed by the encrypted messaging platform, Telegram.
According to blockchain forensics firm Santiment, $TON whale holders are back in accumulation mode after taking profits in early March. Between March 20 and April 13, the whales cluster with individual balances of 100,000 to 1 million $TON added another 44 million coins.
At the current market value of $2.22, the whale’s newly acquired coins are worth $97 million. Notably, the buy/sell pattern of this cohort of whales has been closely correlated to price action since September 2022. If this condition holds, $TON holders can expect more upside in the coming weeks.
In conclusion, the activity of crypto whales can have a ripple effect across the cryptocurrency market. Strategic sharks and retail investors could also choose to keep a close eye on these assets that are drawing large investors’ attention.