During July 2025, cryptocurrency whales—that is, sizable holders or high-volume traders—increased their holdings across a range of altcoins, indicating possible changes in the general market mood. Their movement was most noticeable in prominent coins like Ethereum (ETH) and Chainlink (LINK), as well as in more recent or popular currencies like ONDO, Toncoin (TON), Optimism (OP), and Worldcoin (WLD). ETH, for instance, observed a 95% increase in netflows to big wallets; LINK had a burst in six- and seven-figure deals; and TON's whale netflows soared 320%, causing a parallel surge in prices.
Large whale inflows were also drawn in by prominent memecoins and metaverse tokens. Notably, Shiba Inu (SHIB) whales added 340 million tokens, matching a 15% price rise, while DOGE saw over 1 billion tokens gathered, therefore enabling an amazing 80% rebound from its June lows. Likewise, The Sandbox (SAND) and Uniswap (UNI) experienced renewed whale interest and hoarding, which boosted market mood and helped to fuel short-term price
This surge in whale activity highlights a number of significant trends: usually in fields like DeFi, real-world assets, and viral industries like memecoins and the metaverse, whales are focusing on both settled projects and high-growth potential altcoins. Sharp rises in whale holdings and short-term price gains show a clear relationship, implying that whale movements still drive overall market volatility and retail mood. The recent surge in whale accumulation, therefore, implies greater volatility and the possibility for sector-wide rallies shortly.
