XRP’s price action this week has been dominated by aggressive whale accumulation against a backdrop of sharp market-wide risk-off sentiment. 

Data from on-chain analyst Ali Martinez shows that whales, defined as entities holding tens of millions of tokens purchased approximately 120 million XRP on August 15 alone, coinciding with one of the steepest single-day drawdowns for the token in months.

The move came as XRP’s market capitalization plunged from $193.85 billion to $182.85 billion in 24 hours, erasing $10 billion. Over the past week, market cap has contracted by $15 billion from its August 8 peak of $198.60 billion, with spot prices sliding 7.91% to $3.08.

Despite the selloff, XRP’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) remains elevated at $308.31 billion, suggesting that long-term valuation expectations have yet to be materially repriced. Trading volume, however, has contracted sharply, down 36.49% in 24 hours to $7.55 billion.

Institutional-style XRP accumulation patterns emerging

Martinez’s data shows that the 120 million XRP purchase follows an earlier 320 million XRP accumulation over the prior 72 hours. In total, roughly 440 million XRP worth approximately $3.8 billion has been absorbed by large holders in under a week. 

Historically, such bursts of concentrated accumulation have preceded medium-term trend reversals, particularly when accompanied by declining exchange reserves and tightening liquidity in spot order books.

XRP’s current FDV-to-market cap ratio underscores a market that still prices in significant future supply unlocks and potential adoption growth. However, the recent drawdown has compressed liquidity conditions, and order book data suggests that immediate upside momentum will likely require sustained whale bids to offset persistent retail outflows.