From Sunday, December 25th to the time of writing, XRP whales have accumulated tokens worth $2.17 billion. This significant purchase has sparked speculation that the price of XRP may be poised to reach new all-time highs as the year-end approaches.
However, amid the buying frenzy, on-chain data shows that some cryptocurrency whales are selling. What does this mean for the price of XRP?
XRP Whales Buying, Others Selling
According to the cryptocurrency on-chain data platform Santiment, addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP increased their total balance from $4.85 billion on December 15th to $4.95 billion today, adding 100 million XRP over the past 3 days.
Wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP increased their holdings from $8.66 billion on Sunday to $9.63 billion, adding 870 million tokens.
At an XRP price of $2.50, this accumulation by whales represents a purchase of $2.17 billion worth of the altcoin. This significant buying pressure is generally considered a bullish signal and suggests the potential for a short-term breakout.
However, on-chain data from the cryptocurrency platform CryptoQuant suggests that the expected breakout may not happen as quickly, primarily due to XRP whales' inflows to exchanges.
The whale exchange inflow indicator tracks the movement of large holders' funds to centralized trading platforms, particularly Binance. A spike in this indicator represents increased token inflows to exchanges, while a decrease suggests whales are withdrawing their assets, which is generally a bullish signal.
Over the past 3 days, this indicator has risen from 2,243 to 3,585, indicating an increase in XRP token inflows to exchanges. Compared to the whale accumulation data, this suggests a mix of buying and selling among whales. However, the volume of accumulated tokens appears to outweigh the selling pressure. If this trend continues, XRP's price may not fall into a bullish trap.
XRP Price Prediction, Bullish Flag Reforming... Could it Reach $3.5?
According to BeInCrypto's XRP/USD daily chart analysis, the altcoin has formed a bullish flag pattern. A bullish flag is a continuation pattern characterized by two rally phases separated by a short corrective phase.
This pattern begins with a sharp price surge, where buyers overwhelm sellers and form the "pole." This is then followed by a correction, creating parallel upward and downward trendlines resembling a flag.
As shown below, XRP's price is at the verge of breaking out above the flag's upper trendline. If successful, the altcoin could rise to $3.50 in the short term.
However, if XRP whales decide to engage in large-scale selling, this trend could change. If the token falls below the lower trendline of the above pattern, it could drop to $1.98.
