XRP has observed a sharp surge of 8% during the past day as data shows the sharks and whales have loaded up their bags to a 3-month high.

XRP Has Enjoyed A Sharp Rally During The Last 24 Hours

In the past day, the cryptocurrency sector as a whole has seen an uplift, led by Bitcoin’s approach to the $30,000 level. XRP has been no exception, as the token has enjoyed returns of 8% during this period, which are in fact more than what BTC itself has managed so far.

The below chart shows what XRP’s performance in the past few days has looked like:

At the peak of this sharp rally, XRP had broken above the 0.53 mark, but it has since then declined below the $0.52 level. Even with this pullback, though, the cryptocurrency’s surge remains impressive.

XRP Sharks & Whales Have Been Accumulating Leading Up To This Run

Many have been wondering whether the current rally is only temporary or if it’s here to last. The on-chain analytics firm Santiment has shared some data that may provide some hints about the sustainability of the surge.

The first indicator of relevance here is the “Supply Distribution,” which tells us about the percentage of the total circulating supply of the asset that each holder group in the market is carrying in their combined wallets right now.

In the context of the current discussion, the sharks and whales are the cohorts of interest. According to Santiment, these smart money groups are defined inside the 10,000 to 10 million XRP range.

Here is a chart that shows the trend in the combined holdings of the XRP sharks and whales over the past few months:

From the graph, it’s visible that the Bitcoin sharks and whales have been accumulating recently as their holdings have now hit the highest level in about three months.

Santiment believes that it’s this buying from these large holders that’s majorly responsible for the latest price surge in the cryptocurrency. So far, these key holders haven’t sold and taken their profits, which is certainly a positive sign.

If accumulation continues to happen in the coming days, the rally could very well march on further. There is also a negative signal brewing in the market, however, as the social dominance has shot up with this surge.

Social dominance refers to the share of social media discussion that XRP is occupying among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. The metric going up suggests the mindshare of the asset has increased, as talks related to it have risen.

This may be a sign that traders are becoming hyped about the rally. Too much hype, though, has historically been a bearish signal, as tops have often formed coinciding with it. As is visible in the chart, the top in the asset earlier in the month had also occurred as social dominance had seen a spike similar to now.

Given these mixed signals, it’s hard to say for sure whether XRP can continue its run in the coming days or not.