Whales Add BTC, ETH, XRP as Prices Sit Near Realized Cost, CryptoQuant Says

Large holders of Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP are quietly adding to their positions even as the broader market drifts sideways, according to on-chain data from CryptoQuant. The firm’s figures show whale wallets accumulating all three assets while prices trade at or below their realized price — the average cost basis of coins currently in circulation, a level analysts watch as a proxy for aggregate holder breakeven.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $64,431, Ethereum (ETH) sat near $1,908 and XRP hovered around $1.04. CryptoQuant’s data points to whale buying clustering near these levels, which the firm frames as a sign that experienced capital is treating the current range as a floor rather than a warning sign.

Realized price as the whales’ yardstick

Realized price differs from spot price in that it reflects what the average coin holder actually paid, not the last traded tick. When spot price trades near or under that figure, a large share of the market is sitting at a loss on paper — historically a zone where long-term holders either capitulate or, as CryptoQuant’s latest read suggests, step in to buy.

The accumulation follows a green July for crypto markets that gave way to renewed geopolitical and macroeconomic tension as August began, pressuring risk assets broadly. That backdrop makes the whale buying notable: it is happening into weakness rather than strength, which is typically read as a higher-conviction signal than buying during a rally.

XRP still stuck below a death cross

The accumulation data comes with a technical caveat for XRP specifically. Despite whale buying near the $1 mark, XRP’s daily chart remains below a death cross — a bearish pattern where a shorter-term moving average crosses under a longer-term one — meaning momentum indicators have not yet confirmed the shift that on-chain flows appear to suggest.

That divergence between on-chain accumulation and chart-based technicals is the core tension in the current setup. Whale wallets adding coins is a bottom-up signal built from actual transactions; a death cross is a top-down signal built from price action. The two are pointing in different directions for now, and neither CryptoQuant’s data nor the chart pattern guarantees which one resolves first.

Why it matters for holders

For traders and long-term holders, whale accumulation near realized price levels has historically preceded periods of stabilization, though it is not a guaranteed reversal signal on its own. Anyone weighing entries or exits should treat the CryptoQuant data as one input among several, not as confirmation that the current downturn is over — especially with XRP’s daily technicals still unresolved and macro headlines continuing to weigh on sentiment across BTC, ETH and the broader altcoin market.

Read more: BitMine Holds 4.8% of All ETH Supply as Ethereum Sits at $1,861

Sources

• decrypt.co
• beincrypto.com