XRP Whales Keep Buying While Ether Holders Feel the Squeeze
Large XRP holders keep buying into the decline from $2.40 in January to the current $1.00 to $1.20 range. No rally followed. CryptoQuant calls it “quiet absorption.” My take: that phrase fits. The whales are absorbing supply, but they are not forcing the market upward. Ether is in a rougher spot because ETH now trades well below the average price its holders paid.
CryptoQuant’s on-chain data shows XRP’s average spot order size staying in “big-whale” territory throughout 2026. The 90-day taker cumulative volume delta measures how aggressively buyers and sellers place orders, and it has returned to neutral after buyers controlled the start of the year. Big holders are buying. That part seems clear. Most commentary treats whale accumulation as automatically bullish. That’s only half right. These holders are neither chasing XRP higher nor bringing enough demand to move the market. Their orders have helped form a base near current prices. A breakout is another matter.
The Ether comparison hurts. ETH trades near $1,900 against a realized price of about $2,450, meaning the average ETH holder paid more than the token is worth today. Much of the market is underwater on paper. Why does this matter? Because unrealized losses can become real selling pressure when patience runs out. Bitcoin is holding up better, with its market price roughly 17% above its realized price of $52,900. XRP trades near $1.10, compared with a realized price of about $0.75. I’ll be honest: ETH is the uncomfortable number on this screen.
The gap between market price and realized price is a blunt measure of holder stress. Useful, yes. Definitive, no. When an asset as large as Ether falls below the average holder’s cost, some long-term owners may sell at a loss. Things can get ugly quickly. Those sales sometimes arrive near a market bottom, as worn-out holders finally give up. Counter to the usual bottom-calling advice, however, this metric cannot confirm a bottom on its own. CryptoQuant notes that Ether reached a similar point against its lower valuation band when the token bottomed in early 2025. The firm thinks prices may fall again before the wider market finds a floor. Right now, ETH is the asset I would keep the closest eye on.
Ether’s larger wallets are splitting into distinct camps. Addresses holding 10,000 to 100,000 ETH controlled about 14 million ETH in mid-2025; they now hold a record of nearly 19.6 million. Wallets with 1,000 to 10,000 ETH went the other way, rising to almost 15.6 million ETH in January 2026 before falling to roughly 12.9 million. Wallets with at least 100,000 ETH dropped to around 2.6 million ETH in mid-2025, then recovered to about 4.6 million by May 2026. CryptoQuant estimates that this group added roughly 1.8 million ETH. Is that proof new whales arrived? No. New whales may be taking positions, but existing holders could also have shifted funds between wallets or ownership tiers. On-chain figures alone cannot decide between those explanations. Still, I find the record nearly 19.6 million held by wallets with 10,000 to 100,000 ETH hard to dismiss while so many other ETH holders sit on losses.
Bitcoin whales look hungry for lower prices after addresses linked to exchanges and mining pools are removed. Their holdings bottomed at about 2.87 million BTC in December 2025 and have since climbed to roughly 3.06 million. The heaviest buying came when Bitcoin fell below $60,000 in June. But zoom out. The group still owns around 170,000 BTC less than it held at the 2025 bull-cycle peak of approximately 3.23 million. A common reading is that whales will simply keep buying every dip. I would not assume that. They could add more if prices fall again, but there is no guarantee they will.
What it means
XRP and Ether appear to occupy different stages of the selloff. XRP’s largest holders are accumulating slowly, without much evidence that they intend to push the price up. That buying may support the current range. It does not put a rally on the calendar. Ether has absorbed the harder hit and is the only major asset in this comparison trading below its holders’ collective cost basis. That raises the risk of additional selling from people already in the red. Yes, similar conditions have appeared near earlier bottoms. No, one metric still cannot pinpoint the low. In my view, returns may improve once exhausted sellers clear out, but another drop remains entirely possible.
For Ether, watch $2,450. If ETH rises above its realized price and stays there, the average holder returns above water; that would offer better evidence that the worst of the selling is over. XRP traders should track the 90-day taker cumulative volume delta. If it turns positive again, buyers are placing more aggressive orders, and whale purchases may finally be moving the price. What could disrupt both setups? Fed policy or inflation figures. A change in either could redirect demand for risk assets and determine whether ETH and XRP recover soon or grind sideways for several more months. My take: price confirmation matters more than the whale narrative.