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XRP’s strong start to the year 2026 has pushed it back into the spotlight, with CNBC referring to it this week as the "new cryptocurrency darling" after it outperformed Bitcoin and Ether in the first week of the year.
XRP is drawing attention as a relatively under-owned major cryptocurrency alternative as Bitcoin and Ethereum fail to gain massive momentum.
The implication of this is that the activity of whales, or large holders, is increasing, with large transactions referring to those above $100,000 surging on the XRP Ledger network.
According to on-chain analytics platform Santiment, XRP whale activity has exploded this week, hitting three-month high levels.
XRP hits three-month high in whale activity
Santiment noted that XRP Ledger has seen a major increase in whale transactions, which are valued at $100,000 or more on the XRPL network.
Monday, Jan. 5, saw 2,170 large transactions, and on Jan. 6, large transactions rose to 2,802, hitting a three-month high. The implication of this is that volatility might be higher than usual, Santiment said, urging traders to follow along.
Whales, or large holders, can increase price volatility, especially when they move a large quantity of cryptocurrency in a single transaction.
An increase in large transactions might suggest whales buying or selling in large quantities, which might increase volatility and thereby move prices.
Implications for price?
The timing of the surge coincided with XRP's 15% surge on Jan. 5, when the price rose from $2.06 to $2.368.
On Jan. 6 as well, XRP saw similar volatility, rising to $2.41 before dropping to $2.20. At press time, XRP was down 6.26% in the last 24 hours to $2.08. This comes as traders take profits and is in line with the broader crypto market drop.
XRP is entering its third day of drop from Jan. 6 high of $2.41. The drop also coincided with the first set of outflows from XRP ETFs. The group of XRP spot ETFs launched since Nov. 13 recorded net outflows of $40.80 million on Jan. 7, after seeing their largest single-day volumes this week.
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