Massive crypto transfers suggest traders may be locking in profits after initial price spikes.
Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to incorporate Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and XRP into a U.S. crypto strategic reserve, billions of XRP tokens and thousands of BTC were funneled into exchanges. This wave of inflows likely contributed to the swift price retracement following an early surge.
Institutional and whale investors typically store assets in cold wallets and move them to exchanges when preparing to sell. On-chain data from CryptoQuant shows that XRP inflows to exchanges peaked at 193 million per hour after Trump’s announcement, with the majority of these transactions coming from whales—entities transferring at least 1 million XRP at a time.
Bitcoin inflows also saw a dramatic uptick, rising from an average of 500–1,000 BTC per hour to a high of 6,739 BTC the day after the news. Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) deposits into exchanges soared to nearly 300,000 ETH within an hour, signaling increased market activity.
CryptoQuant analysts highlighted that the rapid price swings on Monday and Tuesday indicate that spot demand remains weak, posing challenges for sustained bullish momentum.
“Bitcoin’s apparent demand growth, which gained traction after the U.S. election results in late 2024, has now entered contraction territory for the first time since September 2024,” analysts noted. “Without a resurgence in demand, maintaining upward momentum in crypto prices will be difficult.”
Apparent demand, a key on-chain metric that tracks Bitcoin’s supply dynamics by analyzing long-held coins and newly mined supply, continues to decline. CoinDesk previously reported that retail accumulation has been trending downward since early November, adding further headwinds to the market.
