Following a turbulent period, XRP slid from $1.34 to $1.15 over the course of several days, shaking retail confidence. Yet, while smaller traders stepped back, large investors moved in behind the scenes.
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez (@alicharts) shared figures indicating that whale wallets scooped up more than 16.46 million XRP throughout that five-day downward slide.
The update featured a Santiment bar chart tracking the total amount of XRP stored in whale wallets from November 4 to November 7. These holdings grew steadily, climbing upward from roughly 6.32 billion tokens to 6.35 billion. “Price is falling. Whales are buying,” he noted.
XRP WHALES ARE BUYING THE DIP
While $XRP dropped from $1.34 to $1.15, large entities went on a buying spree.
Over the past five days, whales accumulated more than 16.46 million XRP.
Price is falling. Whales are buying. https://t.co/PFoUqYsIo9 pic.twitter.com/R5njv2LtuF
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) November 7, 2026
The Midterm Election Sell-Off
This downward price movement ties directly back to the U.S. midterm elections on November 3. Democrats swept both chambers of Congress, besting Republican candidates in critical races, which included surprise outcomes in Texas. Consequently, the crypto market responded with uncertainty.
Having already shed 16% during October, XRP entered November under severe pressure while remaining below critical technical resistance at $1.50. The Democratic sweep compounded regulatory anxieties on top of an already fragile chart setup, leaving investors worried that crypto-friendly regulations would stall under a Democrat-led or divided Congress.
The CLARITY Act—legislation intended to build a well-defined regulatory framework for digital assets—had already failed to advance in the Senate. The results of the midterm elections injected fresh skepticism regarding its future prospects, severely denting market sentiment surrounding XRP. Currently, XRP changes hands at $1.16, marking a 7.52% decline over the past week.
Whale Accumulation and What it Signals
The behavior of whales during downturns holds considerable weight. When massive holders accumulate assets as prices slide, it frequently signals underlying faith in the token’s worth at those current prices. The Santiment metrics pointed out by Martinez reveal consistent purchases spanning five consecutive days rather than an isolated spike.
Furthermore, the count of wallets maintaining at least 1 million XRP hit a high point for 2026 over this timeframe, with 28 fresh major holders joining the ranks in a mere 10 days. Between November 3 and November 5, whale balances grew from 2.35 billion to 2.63 billion XRP.
This trend is further supported by tokens exiting exchanges and moving into private storage, a shift that typically indicates investors intend to hold rather than liquidate.
A Setup for Recovery
XRP has found it difficult to break back above $1.30, a threshold it relinquished prior to the elections. Securing a daily close above that mark would point toward a momentum reversal. Naturally, whale accumulation during a price correction offers no absolute guarantee of a swift bounce.
Nevertheless, it demonstrates that large, knowledgeable market participants perceive underlying value at these reduced prices, providing the present market setup with a solid foundation that simple price charts might overlook.