The crypto market experienced a significant downturn on Sunday, with various altcoins feeling the impact more than others. Ripple’s (XRP) price decrease is of particular interest, as it followed shortly after a renowned analyst warned of whales beginning to offload their holdings.
Despite coming tantalizingly close to breaking into new territory a few weeks ago, the third-largest cryptocurrency was stopped just 1% shy of its 2018 all-time high of $3.4, according to CoinGecko. Since then, the token’s rally has stalled, even dropping to $2.8 during a Monday market correction.
However, during the business week, it managed to claw back its losses and reclaim the coveted $3 mark, even reaching a weekly high of $3.15 on Friday. But its upward momentum was paused thereafter.
Over the weekend, XRP began to slowly depreciate in value, but it experienced a steep drop in the past 12 hours, coinciding with a similar plunge in bitcoin and other altcoins. The token’s price hit a 6-day low of $2.82, marking an 8% daily decrease from its highest to its lowest points.
Although XRP has managed to recover slightly to almost $2.9, it’s still down by over 5% for the day. This downturn isn’t solely due to overall market trends but also a significant strategy shift by whale investors.
These large market players were among the main drivers behind XRP’s rally post-election, accumulating billions of dollars’ worth of the asset within a few months. However, Ali Martinez revealed that they have now reversed their strategy, selling off $70 million worth of XRP in just a few days.
Whales play a crucial role in overall market movements since their massive purchases or sell-offs can significantly influence the market’s direction.
