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Key Insights:
- Whale exits the Ethereum rally, opening a $12M XRP leveraged position.
- Ripple (XRP) derivatives see spike in volume, open interest, and longs.
- On-chain data shows whales accumulated 880M XRP in one month.
A major crypto whale has taken a leveraged long position on XRP worth $12 Million. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported the move, highlighting its significance.
This development follows the entity’s earlier move into Ethereum. There, it secured over $10 Million in unrealized profits amid ETH’s strong price rally in early May 2025.
Ethereum initially captured market attention, but focus has shifted to XRP. A crypto whale placed a large bet just hours before Lookonchain’s May 12 update. The position has already shown over $260,000 in paper profits.
Whale Shifts Focus from Ethereum After $10M Rally Gain
The shift in strategy emerged after the whale capitalized on Ethereum’s early May upswing. ETH surged from around $1,800 to over $2,500 in a week. This rapid rise enabled the trader to enter early and secure substantial gains.
On May 11, Lookonchain confirmed that the whale’s long ETH position had accumulated more than $10 Million in unrealized profit. The whale moved away from ETH and redirected funds into XRP.
They opened a 2x leveraged position valued at nearly $12 million. Within eight hours, the trade had already gained over $261,000 on paper. This highlights the fast-growing market interest in XRP over Ethereum.
XRP Derivatives Market Sees Surge in Volume and Positions
Meanwhile, the derivatives market of XRP has seen a significant uptick in activity. Trading volume more than doubled over the past 24 hours, rising by over 104% to $15.43 Billion.
Open interest followed closely, growing by 21.12% to $5.54 Billion. This suggested an influx of new capital and leveraged positions entering the market.
Increases over 20% in options volume and open interest reflect greater speculative and hedging behavior. While the entire long/short ratio stayed even at 1.0016 for the last 24 hours, exchange data suggests a stronger bullish trend.
Especially evident at Binance and OKX, the inclination is substantially toward long positions. The top traders at Binance are most confident, with a long/short ratio reaching 3.207.
Despite the bullish activity, the current liquidation numbers indicate that volatility continues. Positions valued at $20.5 Million were liquidated during the last 24 hours.
Equally sized losses resulted, as $10.16 Million in long positions and $10.40 million in short positions were eliminated. The identical liquidation amounts for longs and shorts are evidence of greater price instability for both.
On-Chain Data Shows Whale Accumulation
While traders use leverage, Ali Martinez said that on-chain data showed whales accumulated significant XRP. According to Martinez, large holders have collected over 880 million XRP over the last month.
This aggregating behavior coincides with mounting assumptions that large investors might coordinate ahead of expected market moves. This was also backed up when blockchain analytics firm Whale Alert recognized a major transfer of XRP.
One transaction, handling 70 million XRP—or $148.3 Million, passed between wallets that could not be identified. The transactions reveal that key holders continue to acquire amid the market’s heightened activity.
These traders anticipate a price rise since XRP has not moved significantly recently.XRP has recorded a 10% increase in the last week, rising from $2.1 to $2.4.
Although this price rise hints at some movement, Ripple is still trading below the $3 it briefly hit in January 2025. After that high, prices slid and settled under $2 by April.
Disclaimer
In this article, the views, and opinions stated by the author, or any people named are for informational purposes only, and they don’t establish the investment, financial, or any other advice. Trading or investing in cryptocurrency assets comes with a risk of financial loss.
