Are Ripple Whales Signaling a Major Market Shift?

TL;DR

• Ripple whales have changed their attitude toward the asset by disposing of roughly $800 million worth of it since the start of the month.
• This concerning trend only strengthens the narrative that the SEC lawsuit closure was a typical sell-the-news event.

Ripple Whales Are Selling

As with all other cryptocurrencies, Ripple whales’ behavior is typically a solid sign of overall market conditions, sentiment, and short-term price directions, at least to some extent. They can impact price moves with massive purchases or sales.

After the US elections, whales went on a substantial accumulation spree as their holdings reached a six-year high. A few months down the road, XRP peaked at $3.4.

That’s where the landscape started to change and Ripple whales began offloading significant portions of their XRP fortune. This, alongside the overall worsening market conditions and political uncertainty, pushed the asset south to under $2 on several occasions.

These market participants have continued to dispose of their XRP tokens since the start of April, thus confirming the ongoing trend. According to Ali Martínez, they have sold more than 370 million tokens in the past few weeks, which equals roughly $800 million given XRP’s price.

Whales have sold over 370 million $XRP since the start of the month! pic.twitter.com/KXiCjGHmBM

— Ali (@ali_charts) April 15, 2025

Peculiar Timing

Whales’ sell-offs began in late March and have continued until today, with a few exceptions. This is so worrisome because they began shortly after Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, announced on X that the lawsuit between his company and the US securities watchdog had effectively ended after both parties dropped their latest appeals.

Although the SEC has yet to publish an official confirmation, industry experts believe this is just a matter of time and has already been priced in. As such, the recent behavior by whales reaffirms a previous narrative that the real gains for XRP came on hype that the lawsuit would be concluded instead of the actual ending—or, as they say in the financial world, a typical ‘buy-the-rumor, sell-the-news’ event.

Looking ahead for Ripple, there are still some hype-worthy developments to anticipate, such as a potential approval of an XRP ETF in the States. Such products could restart another hype-driven rally, like Bitcoin last year, but they can also lead to the opposite long-term effects, like Ethereum.