Large XRP holders bought roughly 1.54 billion tokens, worth about $2.2 billion, over 96 hours this week, one of the most aggressive accumulation runs the asset has recorded in months. The buying, tracked by analytics platform Santiment and shared by analyst Ali Martinez, pushed whale wallet balances past a plateau that had held for weeks and coincided with a 7 percent price climb toward $1.50.
The same window produced a less convenient data point. Around 1.6 billion XRP has also flowed into Binance over the past month, the highest exchange inflow since March. Exchange deposits usually precede selling, so the two readings point in opposite directions. Whales are absorbing supply at one end of the market while someone, possibly the same wallets, is positioning to sell at the other.
What the on-chain data shows
Santiment’s supply distribution metric tracks wallets holding at least 10 million XRP. Those addresses now control a combined share of supply at levels not seen since 2018, according to the firm’s earlier analysis. The 96-hour burst added about 1.54 billion tokens to that cohort, which at recent prices puts the group’s holdings in the tens of billions of dollars.
Whale behavior has been a running theme for XRP through the downturn. CryptoQuant noted in August that Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP whales all increased balances during market weakness, reading it as large holders absorbing supply ahead of a possible bottom. Exchange reserves, meanwhile, sit at a seven-year low of about 1.7 billion XRP, which the same analysts cite as evidence that coins are leaving venues for cold storage rather than piling up to be sold.
| Reading | Figure | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Whale accumulation, 96 hours | 1.54 billion XRP, about $2.2 billion | Bullish, supply removed from float |
| XRP inflows to Binance, past month | About 1.6 billion XRP | Bearish, potential sell-side liquidity |
| Price move during accumulation | Roughly 7 percent, toward $1.50 | Confirms demand |
| Exchange reserves, XRP Ledger | About 1.7 billion XRP, a seven-year low | Bullish, coins leaving venues |
| Key resistance | $1.49 to $1.55 | Decides the next leg |
Traders reading the chart see an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on the daily XRP/USD pair, a formation usually read as a reversal signal. The confirming level is $1.55. A daily close above it would validate the pattern, pull in buyers waiting on the sidelines and put $2.00 in play as a near-term target, according to the analysts watching the setup. A rejection instead leaves the price chopping between $1.45 and $1.50 while the exchange overhang weighs.
Realized price offers another lens. Crypto analysts estimate roughly 60 percent of circulating supply sits underwater at current prices, with realized price near $1.48 against spot in the $1.40s. That is a capitulation reading rather than a distribution one, the argument goes, because holders who were going to sell at a loss have largely already done so through two years of decline.
ETF demand adds a second bid
The whale buying sits on top of a steady institutional bid. US spot XRP ETFs, which launched in November 2025, have accumulated roughly $1.68 billion in cumulative net inflows, with combined net assets near $1.48 billion. Seven funds now hold close to a billion XRP between them, roughly 1.6 percent of circulating supply, and Goldman Sachs emerged as the largest publicly disclosed institutional holder in second-quarter filings.
Flows have been persistent even when price was not. The funds posted their strongest week since December 2025 in late August, and they have avoided a single week of net outflows through the recent correction. Daily figures remain uneven, with Bitwise’s fund the only top product to record outflows in the most recent full week, but the aggregate direction has held through a stretch when Bitcoin funds themselves swung from heavy outflows to record weeks.
Corporate treasuries add a third source of demand. Evernorth, the Ripple-backed XRP treasury firm, cleared its SEC registration in late August and shareholders vote September 30 on the merger that lists it on Nasdaq as XRPN. The company plans to deploy capital into XRP-based infrastructure and manage its treasury to increase XRP per share, a structure modeled on what Strategy did for Bitcoin. CoinMarketCap’s weekly analysis notes that public companies increasingly treat XRP as a treasury asset with yield and on-chain finance uses, not just a speculative holding.
The macro backdrop cuts both ways
The rally XRP is riding began with Bitcoin. Bitcoin surged past $87,000 early September 22, its highest level since January, after a short squeeze liquidated more than $300 million in bearish bets in a single hour and spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $433 million on Friday, led by Fidelity’s $310.7 million. Risk appetite across crypto lifted with it, and XRP’s 7 percent weekly gain is part of that broader move. Total crypto market capitalization climbed back near $2.9 trillion.
The catch is that the same macro forces can reverse. Fed tightening expectations pushed Bitcoin below $78,000 earlier in the month and dragged XRP under $1.40 with it. Traders pricing XRP on Polymarket still put the most likely September range at $1.20 to $1.60, a reminder that the market does not treat the breakout as settled. Supply mechanics matter too: Ripple’s monthly escrow unlocks continue to release tokens into the market, and ETF demand has to outrun that issuance for the price to hold higher levels.
The unresolved question is which whale signal wins. If the accumulation is genuine conviction buying and the Binance inflows belong to different, shorter-term holders, the supply picture tightens and a close above $1.55 gets easier. If the same wallets are rotating into exchanges to sell into the rally, the $2.2 billion headline is distribution dressed up as accumulation. The next few daily closes, and whether the price can hold above $1.50 once the Bitcoin squeeze fades, should settle it.