The cryptocurrency market is a highly volatile one and behind most of the dramatic price fluctuations you see there are influential customers referred to as top whales. These are people or entities that have large stash of a C specific cryptocurrency in excess of what is needed to shift prices by buying, selling or transferring tokens in and out of wallets and exchanges.
This week, there has been significant top whale activity across several major and emerging currencies, which presages coming rallies, corrections, and redistributions. In this thorough report, we examine the largest whale movements, delve into what cryptocurrencies are winning over their target consumers, and what the retail investors can learn from these moves.
What are Whales and why do they matter?
Giant holders of a large amount of a digital asset in crypto are Top whales. For Bitcoin it might mean more than 1,000 BTC; For altcoins, even several millions of tokens are sufficient.
Whales influence:
- Price trends create sudden volatility due to mass buying or selling.
- Liquidity because their operations frequently eliminate or add much supply.
- Investor sentiment, the same happens to follow whale wallets by other traders.
Blockchain monitoring tools such as Whale Alert, Santiment and IntoTheBlock are used to track whale movements.
Top Whales Transactions This Week
These were some of the most outstanding transactions that were recorded during the period across major cryptocurrencies:
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Bitcoin (BTC)
- Transaction: 8,000 BTC transferred (~$250 million)
- Type: Wallet-to-wallet (cold storage shuffle suspected)
- Impact: Small price variation; indicative of some sort of build-up towards either long-term holding or off-exchange sale.
Analysis: BTC whales are still cautious but are shifting massive amounts of unexchanged assets out, which is usually regarded as a bullish sign if one has little intention to sell.
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Ethereum (ETH)
- Transaction: ~ $192 million sent to Lido staking pool (120000 ETH)
- Type: Staking allocation
- Impact: RLP increase in ETH locked supply; staking decreases circulating liquidity
Analysis: This movement of the whale in line with raising confidence in ETH2, and staking yields. It indicates that ETH whales are acting in the long term.
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XRP
- Transaction: 300 million XRP (approximately $768 million) sent to the Bitstamp exchange
- Type: Exchange inflow
- Impact: Speculations on price action and SEC case settlement.
Analysis: A move to an exchange can often be interpreted as a proposal to sell or to fund liquidity pools. This may cause volatile prices on XRP.
Top Altcoins Targeted by Top Whales
Top Whales don’t participate in moving BTC or ETH only. This week, large-holder activity has skyrocketed in multiple altcoins.
Altcoin Whale Accumulation Table
| Coin | Ticker | Whale Activity | Netflow Change |
| Aave | AAVE | 50,000 AAVE bought by whales | +20.5% holdings increase |
| Ondo | ONDO | 10,263% spike in large holder netflows | +$15M inflows |
| Cardano | ADA | 420 million ADA scooped up by 30 whale wallets | +8% price rise |
| Floki Inu | FLOKI | 286% surge in whale transfers | +700M tokens moved |
| KuCoin Token | KCS | Whales returning to positions after months of sell-offs | +12% rebound in price |
| Toncoin | TON | $50M moved into wallets linked to early investors | +220% increase in whale netflows |
| Solana | SOL | 1.2 million SOL bought on DEX platforms | Record high whale staking |
| Dogecoin | DOGE | 400 million DOGE moved to exchanges | Potential pre-pump behavior |
Sources: CoinGape, Binance Square, CoinCodex
What These Movements Mean for the Market
Top Whales transactions are sometimes market signaliza. This is what this week’s actions could mean:
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Strategic Accumulation in DeFi Tokens
AAVE and ONDO both are from DeFi (Decentralized Finance). The big buy-ins indicate that whales believe in a bullish cycle of DeFi, maybe it’s because of the changes in the rules or reemergence of interest in decentralized lending platforms.
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Increased Confidence in the Ethereum Ecosystem
The ETH and staking related whale movements point to institutional belief on the Ethereum network after merge. Locking up more ETH means there is less onto the open market, so that helps with price stability or gains.
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Altcoins in Focus: ADA, TON, FLOKI
The aggressive takeover of Cardano, Toncoin, and Floki will tell that whales are getting positions on layer 1 and meme /tokenomics-based coins just before breakouts.
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Dogecoin and Solana: Preparing for Retail Pumps
Historically, DOGE and SOL whale activity has preceded social media-driven price rallies. These coins might be laying the ground for a speculative run, especially given DOGE’s presence in Elon Musk’s orbit.
How to Interpret Top Whales Alerts
Exchange Inflows
- Sending tokens to exchanges by whales is a tell-tale of impending selling pressure.
- Wallet-to-wallet Transfers
May imply rebalancing, security shiftings or DeFi protocol transactions.
- Cold Storage Transfers
Long-term holding is recommended, especially when tokens are off centralized platforms.
- Netflow Surges
An increase in large holder netflows is an indication that whales are collecting and setting up for future gains.
Historical Comparison: March 2024 vs May 2025
| Metric | March 2024 | May 2025 |
| Avg. Whale BTC Transfer Size | 2,500 BTC | 8,000 BTC |
| ETH Staked by Whales | 60,000 ETH | 120,000 ETH |
| Altcoins Dominated by Whales | MATIC, LINK, SHIB | FLOKI, ONDO, TON |
| Avg. Weekly Whale Transactions | 3,100 | 5,800 |
Observation: Top whales movement has visibly increased significantly in 2025, where more focus has been on altcoin diversification and staking.
Expert Analysis
What Ali Martinez, an on-chain analyst of CryptoQuant:
“When whales start building up in low-cap altcoins with healthy volume, it generally precedes altcoin speculative seasons”.
Meanwhile, Santiment notes:
“Whale wallet activity spike around tokens such as ONDO and TON is an indication of insider sentiment related to future protocol rise”.
Implications for Retail Investors
Top Whales moves cannot be mimicked by retail investors, however, they can…
- Monitor wallet activity with the help of Whale Alert, Etherscan and Glassnode.
- Stay away from buying at exchange inflow spikes; prices may fall.
- Staking and long-term in coins that whales are long-term invested in (i.e., ETH, SOL).
- Pick smart money, particularly in those 1st stage tokens that are getting traction among big holders.
Conclusion
Top Whales are very active this week, which could mean a possible volatility and trend soon. The key takeaways are:
- (Bitcoin & Ethereum whales are setting up for long term security. )
- Smart foreign accumulation is being made of altcoins (TON, ADA, FLOKI, and ONDO).
Whales are preparing for a possible altcoin season and are pulling assets out of exchanges to wallets and DeFi platforms.
For traders and investors, keeping a close eye on these patterns can offer very useful information as to what may come in the ever changing crypto universe.
FAQs
Q1: How do I track top whales’ activity in real time?
Use such platforms as Whale Alert, Santiment, or IntoTheBlock.
Q2: Which coins are whales most interested in now?
This week’s top targets are: Ethereum (ETH), Toncoin (TON), Floki (FLOKI), Ondo (ONDO) and Cardano (ADA).
Q3: Do whale movements have to be always bullish or bearish?
Not necessarily. Bearish signs are often given by the inbound exchange, staking and wallet storage hint at accumulation (bullish).
Q4: Am I buying what whales are buying?
Whale movements to use as signals, but research yourself (DYOR). Whales have varying goals and risk appetite from the rest of the retail investors.
Glossary of Key Terms
Whale: A big crypto owner able to sway the market.
Cold Wallet: A crypto wallet for longer-term storage offline.
DeFi: Decentralized Finance which are financial applications without intermediaries.
Staking: Crypto locking in support of network safety and granting rewards.
Exchange Inflow: Crypto went on to exchanges, commonly signaling a sell off.
References
CoinGape: Top 4 Crypto to Buy This Weekend
CoinCodex: Crypto Whale Tracker
Mid-Day: Top Altcoins to Watch This Week
