Altcoin Watch: Mega Whales Are Taking These Alts Off Exchanges

As a seasoned researcher with years of experience delving into the world of cryptocurrencies, I find myself intrigued by the recent trend of whales moving their altcoin supply to cold wallets. The shift towards self-custody, as shown by the Top Exchange/Non-Exchange Wallet Holdings for Polygon (MATIC), Injective (INJ), and Render (RENDER), could be a bullish sign for these coins.


Recent on-chain activity indicates that large investors (whales) of these cryptocurrencies have been transferring their holdings from digital exchange platforms to offline, secure wallets, often referred to as cold storage. This movement could potentially signal positive price trends for the altcoins in question.

Whales Of These Altcoins Have Been Moving Into Self-Custody Recently

As a researcher, I’m sharing insights from a recent post on my platform. Santiment, an on-chain analytics firm, has delved into the shifting patterns of top wallet holdings for three cryptocurrencies: Polygon (MATIC), Injective (INJ), and Render (RENDER). The focus is on comparing holdings between exchange and non-exchange wallets.

This “Top Exchange/Non-Exchange Wallet Holdings” term indicates a measurement system that compares the balances of the ten biggest digital asset wallets linked to centralized trading platforms to those of the ten most significant self-managed wallets.

The top ten wallets, regardless of their type, are typically owned by the biggest players in the market, often referred to as “whales”. However, these aren’t just any ordinary whales – they are investors who stand out even among other whales due to their massive scale.

In essence, comparing the holdings of top wallets (exchange and non-exchange) gives us insight into how much crypto is controlled by ‘whales’ who use exchanges versus those who keep their coins in offline, or cold, storage.

Here’s a chart from Santiment, highlighting the pattern of this particular indicator for various altcoins across the past few years:

Altcoin Watch: Mega Whales Are Taking These Alts Off Exchanges

It’s clear from the graph that over the past two years, the wallet holdings of these three altcoins (Polygon, Cardano, and Solana) have experienced significant decreases, with Polygon experiencing the most recent drop.

On the 9th of this month, there was a noticeable drop in MATIC, which coincided with large whales transferring a substantial amount to personal wallets (self-custody). Since then, the trend for the altcoin has been downward, although the extent of the dip pales in comparison to the significant fall experienced during that initial plunge.

On July 21st, Render’s giant whales moved a substantial amount of their holdings into cold wallets, and since then, the ratio has remained relatively low. Conversely, Injective (INJ) experienced a significant drop in value as early as August 21st of the previous year. However, these large-scale investors have been progressively unloading more INJ supply from exchanges ever since that time.

Typically, investors store their assets on cryptocurrency exchanges when they intend to engage in short-term trading. Consequently, the amount of an asset held by exchanges can be seen as a representation of its possible sell volume.

From my perspective as a crypto investor, the recent trend among the big players in altcoins towards self-custody could be an optimistic sign. This is something I’ll be keeping a close eye on moving forward, as any reversals might suggest that these whales are looking to sell once more. If that’s the case, it could indicate a potential bearish turn for the coins they control, which isn’t ideal news for us investors.

Render Price

At the time of writing, Render is floating around $4.8, down 8% over the past week.

Altcoin Watch: Mega Whales Are Taking These Alts Off Exchanges

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2024-09-17 20:10