Crypto whales are individuals or entities that hold so much of an asset that their movement of that asset influences the price. When they move large amounts of cryptocurrency into or out of a market, those movements rarely go unnoticed and often have an effect on both prices and liquidity.
Whales can be either high net worth individuals or companies with significantly larger holdings than typical investors, hence the name. Traders often track these wallets because it’s assumed that they are controlled by smart, capable investors. Many even replicate every single trade that whales make, hoping to cash in with the same strategy.
While there is no hard and fast rule about how much cryptocurrency makes you a whale, there are barometers that some analysts use as a guideline. If you own 1,000 Bitcoin or more, or $10,000,000 or more of any other cryptocurrency, you could be considered a whale. It also entirely depends on the size of the coin. For example, an investor with $100,000 in a small meme coin could also be considered a whale.
Key Takeaways
- Crypto whales are individuals or entities that hold large amounts of a particular cryptocurrency, often enough to influence market prices through their trading activity.
- Their large buy or sell orders can cause significant price volatility, making them important players in both short-term price movements and broader market sentiment.
- Monitoring whale activity can offer insights into potential market trends, accumulation or distribution phases, and possible price reversals.
How Crypto Whales Move Markets
Whales influence markets in a variety of ways. Besides having access to capital that can make large transactions possible, many crypto whales are well-connected in the fields of technology, finance, or sometimes both. As a result, they often have access to information and professional and social connections that are not typically available to the rest of us.
Let’s look at some of the ways the actions of crypto whales influence market prices.
Large Buy and Sell Orders
Even if other traders aren’t trying to copy trade them, when crypto whales initiate transactions with large amounts of money, they can trigger significant price swings in either direction. When a whale offloads a large amount of Bitcoin, it can trigger a drastic drop in price as it signals that a whale has lost confidence in the currency. Conversely, when they purchase a large amount of crypto, it can send prices soaring because of the buying pressure as well as the perceived confidence in the asset. Whales can provide a market with liquidity or chaos with a single transaction.
Hoarding
When crypto whales snatch up a large amount of cryptocurrency and keep it in their wallets for a long period of time, they can create a liquidity problem as this takes the currency out of circulation making buying and selling for smaller investors more difficult.
Governance
Many top blockchains allow their native token holders to vote on how the network is run. When whales transact on a blockchain that allows for this privilege, their voting rights are often proportional to how much cryptocurrency they hold. Therefore, whales can have a significantly weighted say in the governance of a blockchain. They could have the power to influence changes in a blockchain that would significantly benefit themselves, even if they would harm the network overall.
Malicious Market Manipulation
While not all crypto whales engage in malicious activity, their large portfolios make some underhanded tactics available that the average trader could not engage in. For example, a pump and dump is where the price of a cryptocurrency is artificially inflated (the pump) through the use of various tactics, mostly social media platforms like X or Discord. The currency is then sold off at the top of its price point (the dump) for a huge profit, leaving everyone else with a worthless coin. When whales both hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and also trigger a sell-off, it causes a wide swing in the market price.
How to Track Crypto Whales
Tracking the market movements and transactions of crypto whales can provide valuable insight into trends in the crypto market and could potentially improve your trading strategy. Here are some tools that are used to track crypto whale activity.
Analytics Platforms
One of the most popular analytics platforms for crypto is Nansen, which aggregates blockchain data. Nansen supports over a dozen blockchains that include Ethereum, Base, Arbitum, and Solana. Nansen also monitors exchange activity including Binance and Coinbase providing real-time order and trading volume data.
Blockchain Explorers
Blockchain explorers allow you to explore individual public blockchains. Most top blockchains have their own explorers dedicated to them. For example, Ethereum has Etherscan, and Solana has Solana Explorer.
Blockchain explorers allow you to track transactions and wallet addresses using a (relatively) user-friendly interface. You can use them to track down top whales and follow every transaction they make. Blockchain explorers provide a level of transparency that can help build trust and provide accountability, qualities that are both essential for a blockchain’s growth.
Best Crypto Whale Tracking Sites
There are several sites that provide crypto whale tracking services, and all of them allow their users to track whale movements to identify potential investment opportunities. However, each platform has its own focus and features. The following are a few of the top crypto whale tracking platforms.
Whale Alert
Whale Alert specializes in one thing and one thing only: big wallet movements. Monitoring Whale Alert’s site is free, but for real-time alerts, it requires a paid plan. Whale Alert’s API can provide traders with instant alerts when whales make huge transactions. Higher-tier plans can also allow traders to set up automated trades based on crypto whale movements.
DeBank
At first glance, DeBank is a platform that provides features similar to other whale tracking sites. It provides wallet overviews, funds invested ranked by value, and identifies the largest crypto transactions. But DeBank’s differentiator is its social feed. It monitors the social media posts of crypto investors with $1 million or more in their portfolios, providing another potentially valuable data stream.
Arkham Intelligence
Arkham Intelligence allows you to view detailed holdings for any wallet address as well as exchange deposits and withdrawals. You can sort holdings by blockchain and view transaction histories. It also allows you to customize alerts based on criteria that you provide.
One of Arkham’s most powerful features is the customizable dashboard that lets you track only what you’re interested in, allowing you to put chain data, token data, and data from both centralized and decentralized finance on a single dashboard.
Biggest Crypto Whales in 2025
Now lets look into some the largest cryptocurrency whales in the world. These individuals influence the world of cryptocurrency both personally and through the companies they run.
Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao is the founder and CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Zhao’s current net worth is north of $65 billion, and some analysts believe that is secretly worth even more. Most of this (about $57 billion) consists of BNB token, Binance’s proprietary crypto token.
Brian Armstrong
Brian Armstrong is the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. While his personal cryptocurrency holdings are undisclosed, he likely owns a considerable amount of crypto, and his stake in Coinbase alone is estimated to be worth $6.6 billion.
Barry Silbert
Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert is considered a crypto whale as Grayscale, a DCG subsidiary, has an estimated $28 billion of Bitcoin, Ether, and various other digital assets under its management. DCG is also a backer of organizations such as Coinbase, Ripple, and Genesis Trading.
Chris Larsen
Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen currently holds an estimated $5.8 billion worth of XRP, Ripple Labs’ proprietary token, making up the majority of his $7-8 billion net worth. Larsen’s net worth has fluctuated greatly in recent years due to XRP’s price volatility.
Fred Ehrsam
Fred Ehrsam founded Coinbase alongside Brian Armstrong. Although he left the exchange shortly before it went public, he retained a 6 percent stake in what would become the largest crypto exchange in the US. While much of his personal crypto holdings are not disclosed, he is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion.
Is Tracking Crypto Whales Worth It?
You may be asking yourself whether tracking crypto whales is worth it at all, especially because many other traders are already doing it. The real answer is that it depends on your investing goals, time commitment, risk tolerance, and similar factors.
If you want to go after quick price swings and are able to watch price charts regularly, it’s certainly possible to turn major profits by tracking whales. You could also look for coins that many of the top whales own if you’re looking for coins to hold for the long term. Naturally, crypto trading of any kind incurs significant risks, so do your own research and always avoid investing more than you can afford.
FAQs
What is a crypto whale?
A crypto whale is a person or entity (a company for example) that holds enough cryptocurrency to affect its price.
How much crypto do you have to own to be a whale?
1,000 BTC or more, or $10,000,000 worth of any other cryptocurrency.
What crypto whale activity can be monitored?
Using software, you can monitor the wallet balance, the trading volume, and even the social feed activity of crypto whales.
Who are some of the biggest crypto whales?
Changpeng Zhao (CEO of Binance) as well as Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam (co-founders of Coinbase).
