XRP’s recent drop might be more about leveraged positions being wiped out and overall market weakness than a coordinated sell-off by big holders, according to CryptoQuant contributor Pelin Ay. The analyst pointed to falling XRP inflows into Binance, especially for transfers of a million tokens or more, as evidence that whale selling pressure hasn’t increased during the decline. Ay shared a CryptoQuant chart that tracks XRP Ledger exchange inflows to Binance by value range, alongside XRP’s price in dollars. The data breaks inflows into categories from under 1,000 XRP to over 1 million XRP, helping analysts tell apart smaller exchange deposits from transfers more likely linked to whales or institutional-sized wallets.
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XRP Whale Selling Pressure Eases As Binance Inflows Drop
According to Ay, the largest transfer group has historically been a key part of Binance inflow activity. “Transfers exceeding 1 million XRP are dominant in the chart during certain periods,” she wrote. “This shows that the majority of XRP inflows to Binance are coming from whale and institutional-scale addresses. In particular, the consistently high levels of these inflows between 2021-2025 reveal that major players are actively using Binance.” The main change, in her view, is what happened after XRP’s 2025 peak. The chart shows a clear drop in the largest Binance inflow categories after a period when XRP neared the $3 area, suggesting that large holders haven’t been sending tokens to the exchange as heavily as they did in earlier market phases.
In exchange-flow analysis, rising inflows are often seen as potential sell-side supply, since assets moved to trading platforms can be sold, used as collateral, or repositioned. Ay argued that the current setup doesn’t look like past periods of aggressive distribution. “In the past, before major drops, there were usually sudden high spikes in the 100K–1M XRP and 1M+ XRP groups. Currently, at the end of the chart, there is no such extraordinary inflow surge. Therefore, on-chain data currently reduces the likelihood of aggressive whale selling and mass profit-taking.” That difference is central to her argument. If XRP were going through a classic whale-led sell-off, the chart would likely show a sharp increase in large deposits to Binance, especially from the 100,000-to-1-million XRP and 1-million-plus XRP categories. Instead, Ay says the opposite is happening: inflows have cooled while price has weakened.
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“The chart suggests that the decline is largely due to leverage liquidations and overall market weakness,” she added. “Because in normal hard bear markets, much higher XRP inflows to exchanges are typically seen.” The takeaway isn’t that XRP has no downside risk. Rather, Ay’s view is that the current sell-off lacks one of the more damaging on-chain signs often linked to deeper capitulation: whales sending unusually large amounts of XRP to exchanges. That makes the source of selling pressure important. A liquidation-driven move can speed up quickly when leveraged positions are forced out, but it doesn’t necessarily mean long-term holders are actively selling into the market.
Ay also connected the post-peak drop in inflows to weaker spot supply pressure. “If Binance inflows continue to remain low, selling supply will decrease,” she wrote. “With an increase in demand, it becomes easier for XRP to move back to the $1.8-2.0 region. Especially if sharp rises do not resume in the 1M+ XRP columns, this structure can be maintained.” The condition matters. Her argument depends on large Binance inflows staying low, particularly in the 1-million-plus XRP category. A renewed spike in those columns would weaken the analysis, as it would suggest that large wallets are once again moving significant supply.At the time of writing, XRP was trading at $1.1444. The featured image was created using DALL.E, and the chart is from TradingView.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the statement Onchain data shows that the recent XRP selloff was caused by liquidations not by whales selling off their holdings
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q What exactly happened with XRP recently
A The price of XRP dropped sharply Many people assumed that big investors were selling their coins to cause the crash However new data shows that wasnt the case
Q What is a liquidation in simple terms
A Its when a trading platform automatically closes a traders position because they lost too much money and didnt have enough funds left to cover the loss Its like the exchange saying Youre out of money so were selling your coins now
Q Why would liquidations cause a selloff instead of whales
A When many people are using borrowed money to bet on XRP going up and the price suddenly drops a little their positions get forcedsold This forced selling pushes the price down further causing even more forced sellinga domino effect
Q Does this mean XRP is safe to buy now
A Not necessarily It just means the recent crash wasnt caused by big investors deliberately dumping their bags The market can still be volatile but the reason for this specific drop was technical not strategic selling
IntermediateLevel Questions
Q How can onchain data tell the difference between a whale selling and a liquidation
A Analysts look at the size and timing of transactions Whale sales usually show large amounts moving from private wallets to exchanges Liquidations show up as sudden forced market sells on derivatives exchanges where the trader has no control over the sale
Q What specific onchain metrics did analysts use to confirm this
A They looked at Exchange Inflow Volume and Liquidation Data They saw that exchange inflows were normal but the liquidation volume was extremely high meaning the selling pressure came from inside the exchange not from external wallets
Q If whales didnt sell why did the price drop in the first place to trigger the liquidations