Whale Watch: Selective Altcoin Accumulation Lights Up in December

Although the overall crypto market is still choppy, on-chain data over the last week shows distinct, focused whale gathering in a few remarkable altcoins instead of a massive purchasing frenzy. Big investors are obviously being selective, putting money into particular companies they believe offer outsized growth potential in light of ongoing uncertainty.

The most hostile moves occurred in ASTER, where whale-held balances soared from 39.85 million to 82.54 million tokens in only seven days, a startling 107% gain that reveals one of the most obvious indications of concentrated positioning. Renewed institutional-style purchases of Chainlink (LINK) also resulted from the top 100 wallets acquiring about 20.46 million LINK (around $263 million) since early November. In the last 48 hours alone, XRP whales with 100 million to 1 billion tokens scooped up roughly 330 million XRP (around $642 million), purchasing dips despite price resistance near the $2 level.

Ethereum whales keep accumulating quietly; enormous wallets presently contain more than 22 million ETH; experts point out that this kind of idiosyncratic, high-conviction building by the top 1% of holders frequently precedes local relief rallies or bigger rebounds in the selected assets. Though not a market-wide green light, these whale footprints imply smart money is going into certain large- and mid-cap altcoins ahead of any year-end momentum changes.