Although the recent market crash prompted many investors to exit the XRP market, on-chain data shows that whales seized the opportunity to increase their XRP holdings.
Whale accumulation of XRP and the formation of a bull flag are two factors that contributed to XRP's price reaching $4.
According to Santiment's data, XRP mega-whales holding between 1 million to 10 million XRP acquired an additional 100 million XRP tokens between December 7 and 10. During this period, XRP's price fell by 27.2%, dropping from $2.61 to $1.90.
During XRP's slump, these whales did not reduce their holdings. Instead, with an additional investment of $200 million, their cumulative balance increased from approximately 4.71 billion XRP tokens to about 4.8 billion.
Santiment's XRP chart shows whales accumulating | Ali Martinez
XRP mega-whales purchased 1.1 billion XRP within 30 days
The latest accumulation aligns with the trend over the past 30 days, during which these whales have been consolidating their holdings. In mid-November, their total holdings amounted to 3.71 billion XRP.
At the current level of 4.8 billion tokens, they have added approximately 1.1 billion XRP to their portfolio within a month. During this period, the asset's price rose from about $0.50 to $2.87.
Interestingly, when XRP first reached a seven-year high of $2.87 in the first week of December, these whales took profits, evidenced by a slight decrease in their holdings. However, they subsequently used the price drop to buy more XRP at lower prices.
Their prudent actions have gradually paid off, as XRP has risen to $2.43 since the crash on Tuesday.
XRP Bullish Flag
Although market participants expect the upward trend to continue to higher levels, technical indicators suggest that XRP's recent recovery may temporarily stall, with signals indicating another bearish market may emerge.
Ali Martinez emphasized in a tweet that although XRP's price pattern continues to form a bullish flag, the TD Sequential indicator has issued a sell signal on XRP's four-hour chart. Based on this, he highlighted that XRP may face another correction before the much-anticipated breakout of the $2 price range.
Martinez believes that after the anticipated brief pullback, the price will begin to rise to $4. He first pointed out that during Monday's downturn, the price could rise to $4 and noted that the asset is forming its fourth bullish pennant.
Previously, XRP rose from $0.69 to $1.10, followed by a pullback, and then rebounded to $1.50. This cooling off during the pullback ultimately propelled XRP to $2.87.
Ali Martinez stated that with the current pullback, the next recovery is expected to push XRP up to $4.40. Public announcement: Liu Liu's Cryptocurrency (Weekly strategies and analyses for Bitcoin and Ethereum from Monday to Saturday, with long-term recommendations for quality individual coins and live analyses)
Notably, as of the time of writing, XRP has fallen 4%, touching a low of $2.30 after reaching $2.46 yesterday.