Market "discount season": What are the whales accumulating?

In the past month, Bitcoin has experienced intense volatility around the $80,000-$90,000 range for most of the time. Altcoins have generally corrected by 15%-40%, yet this has become the most comfortable “private accumulation” window for whales. According to real-time on-chain whale tracking data from Santiment and others, whales are quietly building positions in the following sectors, with accumulation intensity for some tokens even hitting new highs for 2025.

1. Payments/Cross-Border Settlement Sector: XRP Becomes Whales’ Favorite

With the SEC and Ripple settlement finalized, the XRP ETF has shifted from anticipation to reality, further stimulating whale accumulation. In the past 30 days, XRP has seen the largest net whale inflow among all altcoins:

• Addresses holding 100 million–1 billion XRP have increased by 970 million tokens
• Addresses holding over 1 billion have increased by 150 million tokens
• The combined inflow of these two groups exceeds $2.4 billion
• Exchange XRP balances continue to decline, hitting a new low since 2023

2. Established Layer 1: Contrarian Accumulation of ADA

Cardano (ADA) saw a rare “whale rotation buy” over the 12 days from November 24 to December 4:

• The largest holding wallet (over 1 billion tokens) began accumulating on November 24 and has added 130 million ADA so far
• Wallets holding 10 million to 100 million tokens started accumulating on November 26, adding 150 million ADA
• Both groups have seen net increases within days, indicating strong whale confidence even as ADA trades near recent lows
• Whales have low cost bases—if the price can break $0.43, it could rise to $0.52; if it falls to $0.38, the bullish outlook will weaken, and reversal signals may fail

3. DeFi Blue Chips: UNI and AAVE Both Scooped Up

• UNI: In the past week, whales added about 800,000 tokens (worth nearly $5 million). After the fee switch vote passed, the top 100 addresses now hold 8.98 million UNI, showing strong accumulation momentum, while exchange supply continues to decrease.

• AAVE: In the past 30 days, whales have added over 50,000 tokens, bringing total holdings to an all-time high of 3.98 million.

Common factors: TVL continues to recover and real revenue (fees) is on the rise, with whales positioning themselves early.

4. Meme Coins: Overall Pullback, Some “Refilled at Low Prices” by Whales

Main Battleground:

• FARTCOIN: 32.43 million tokens scooped up by a single address in 24 hours ($10.7 million)
• PIPPIN: 40.45 million tokens moved by whales in 24 hours ($7.28 million)
• PEPE: Whale holdings increased 1.36% over the past 30 days, totaling over 10 million tokens. Both hot money and old wealth are entering. With liquidity drying up, a violent pump could happen at any time.

5. AI + Data Sector: ENA and TIA Most Favored

• ENA (Ethena): Whale holdings increased by 2.84% in the past 7 days, top 100 addresses accumulated over 50 million tokens
• TIA (Celestia): Exchange supply down 5%, staking ratio and TVL both hit all-time highs
  AI narrative + modular narrative combine, making this one of the most promising long-term sectors this cycle.

6. Storage Sector Quietly Starting: FIL and ICP

Since late November, whale addresses for both FIL and ICP have seen large outflows from exchanges, with active addresses and TVL recovering in sync. The AI large model’s demand for decentralized storage is materializing.

• FIL: In the past 30 days, whales added over 100,000 tokens, worth about $50 million; exchange supply down 15%
• ICP: On-chain active addresses up 30%, whales withdrew over 50,000 tokens from exchanges; TVL rebounded to $120 million

Summary

Current whale strategies:

1. Pullbacks are buy windows—the more it drops, the more they buy, almost ignoring short-term price
2. Prioritize sectors with “real revenue” or “policy certainty”
3. Meme coins are still a high-risk, high-reward “lottery zone”
4. Long-term sectors (AI, modular, storage, privacy) are being positioned by whales 2-3 quarters in advance

Risk warning: All the above are actual on-chain behaviors and do not constitute investment advice. Whale accumulation does not guarantee price increases and may become future selling pressure. Please DYOR, make independent decisions, and strictly control your position size.

Author: Bitpush Editorial Team