XRP’s largest investors have increased their holdings by 2.8% over the past five weeks, while smaller holders have reduced their exposure, creating a notable divide in accumulation patterns. The whale buying trend has supported XRP’s recovery back above $1.16.

The payment-focused cryptocurrency has gained more than 8% during the period, with on-chain data showing that major holders and retail investors are moving in opposite directions.

According to Santiment, wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million XRP have continued accumulating tokens over the last five weeks. This increase in whale and shark holdings coincided with XRP’s rise from around $1 at the end of June to approximately $1.16, suggesting that larger investors are taking advantage of current price levels.

Meanwhile, the smallest XRP wallets have reduced their balances by 5.2% during the same timeframe. The selling activity among smaller holders reflects growing retail capitulation, contrasting sharply with the accumulation taking place among larger market participants.

Santiment said the divergence between whale buying and retail selling could strengthen XRP’s bullish outlook. The analytics platform noted that XRP’s price movements have historically been more influenced by major holders than by smaller retail wallets.

The firm explained on X that XRP has often followed the activity of key stakeholders while moving opposite to the behavior of the smallest holders. This historical pattern suggests the current holder split may support the token’s recent recovery.

The trend comes as XRP receives additional support from broader ecosystem developments, including potential institutional ETF exposure and expanding XRP Ledger use cases across payments, tokenization, and RLUSD stablecoin transactions.

These factors have helped maintain investor interest in XRP, potentially reinforcing confidence among larger market participants even as smaller holders continue to exit their positions.