XRP Whales Bought $742 Million: What $1.60 Resistance Holds

XRP whales accumulated 470 million tokens worth $724 million in five days this week, bringing their total buying to roughly $742 million, according to on-chain data cited by analyst Ali Martinez. Spot XRP exchange-traded funds extended their inflow streak over the same stretch, and the combination of large-holder demand and institutional purchases has put the $1.60 resistance level firmly back in focus for traders.

What the whale accumulation shows

The on-chain figures cited by Ali Martinez show whale balances climbing on every one of the five days tracked this week. Whale balances measure the XRP held by the largest wallets on the network, so a jump of 470 million tokens, worth about $724 million, means a substantial share of supply moved away from exchanges and short-term holders. The pattern is as notable as the size: five straight sessions of net accumulation reads as a program rather than one large transfer landing by chance.

Sporadic large transfers happen every week. Five straight days of net buying do not.

Supply that settles in large wallets is supply that is not sitting on the order book ready to sell. When tokens move off exchanges into custody or longer-term storage, visible depth on the ask side thins out, and the same amount of buying pressure pushes price further than it would against a crowded book. That is the mechanism traders have in mind when they read an accumulation streak as a leading signal, and it is why a weekly total near $742 million earns attention even in an active market.

It is worth separating what the data shows from what it does not. Rising balances confirm accumulation, but they say nothing about intent: the same wallets can add for a week and then sell into strength. Confirmation arrives when price meets the $1.60 ceiling with that supply already off the market. On-chain metrics narrow the question, the chart answers it.

Why does the $1.60 resistance matter?

$1.60 matters because it is the price ceiling that has capped XRP's advances, and it now sits directly above a market where whales and exchange-traded funds are both buying. Resistance marks a zone where sell orders have historically overwhelmed demand, which is why the price stalls there on repeated attempts. Each attempt also forces part of the resting supply to fill, so a level tested often is a level with less left in it.

Repeated tests quietly empty the shelf above the price.

A decisive break above $1.60 would show that the 470 million tokens absorbed this week did not satisfy everyone selling there and that demand still has depth behind it. A rejection would show the opposite: the accumulation was matched by equal supply and the range holds. Either outcome delivers information to the market, which is why this level is driving the conversation around XRP right now.

How spot ETF inflows changed the demand picture

Spot XRP exchange-traded funds extended their inflow streak this week, placing a second, more mechanical buyer beside the whales. Spot funds must buy the underlying token to back the shares they issue, so consecutive days of positive net inflows translate directly into market purchases. Those flows follow subscriptions and redemptions rather than conviction, which makes a streak a record of steady allocation instead of a burst of enthusiasm.

Retail flow is discretionary. ETF flow arrives with the calendar.

The launch of spot XRP products in the United States gave the token an institutional channel it did not previously have. Before that, most regulated exposure ran through futures and derivatives, where demand does not always turn into spot buying. Daily published inflow numbers now act as a sentiment gauge, and a run of positive sessions signals positioning that can persist for weeks rather than a single trade.

Flow streaks also carry a risk worth tracking. Because ETF purchases are transparent and scheduled, a pause in creations shows up quickly, and a gap in the record can shift positioning expectations within a day. Anyone following this week's extension is therefore watching two things at once: the absolute size of the buying, and whether the sequence of positive sessions continues unbroken.

The background behind the accumulation

XRP trades on the XRP Ledger, the blockchain long associated with Ripple Labs and its cross-border payments business. The token spent years under a regulatory cloud after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple in 2020 over sales of the asset. Court rulings narrowed the claims over time, and the end of the litigation, followed by the arrival of spot XRP ETFs in the United States, removed the two biggest obstacles to institutional participation.

The legal overhang is gone. The buyers it kept away are now visible in the data.

That shift in background is why this accumulation phase reads differently from earlier ones. Large holders added XRP through 2020 and 2021 without a spot vehicle and without daily flow reporting, so the market treated the buying as speculative positioning. With regulated products in place, whale demand now arrives alongside an institutional bid, and both show up in numbers anyone can check on-chain or in fund disclosures.

Broader conditions still shape the follow-through. XRP's price history tracks the wider crypto cycle closely, with large-cap altcoins often lagging bitcoin during accumulation phases and accelerating when liquidity broadens. Whale demand and ETF demand arriving together, as they did this week, is the configuration that has preceded those broader expansions in past cycles.

What does this mean for XRP traders?

It means the $1.60 test is the event to watch, with volume, whale balances and daily fund flows as the confirmation signals. A break that happens on rising spot volume while balances keep climbing looks like genuine demand behind the move. A break that stalls on fading inflows, or one that fails at the level under heavy selling, looks like a range that is not ready to end.

Support below the range matters as much as the ceiling above it.

The risks point in both directions. Whales that accumulated at lower prices can distribute into a resistance test and convert a demand signal into supply. A single large redemption can break the inflow streak. And XRP does not trade in isolation: a sharp bitcoin reversal or a macro risk-off session can swamp local flows within hours. The $742 million weekly total matters only if the buying holds when conditions turn less friendly.

Whale distribution and a broken inflow streak are the two failure modes.

What to watch next

The near-term checklist is short: the next round of daily ETF flow prints, whether whale balances keep rising through the weekend, and how price behaves at $1.60. Persistent inflows plus rising balances while price presses the ceiling would keep the setup intact. Flattening or falling balances while the level rejects price would suggest the accumulation has already done its work.

Redistribution by large wallets is the signal that would close this chapter.

The sequence also fits a wider pattern in which regulated vehicles and large holders absorb supply before a market reprices an asset. Comparable dynamics played out in bitcoin as spot ETF inflows coincided with falling exchange balances among the largest holders. XRP is running its own version of that cycle now, and this week's $742 million gives traders a concrete figure to measure the next stretch against.