BTC, ETH, XRP Crash Spurs Whale Accumulation as Buy Signals Emerge

Most major cryptocurrencies sold off over the past several days, led by bitcoin's slide from $87,000 to below $81,000, its lowest level in more than two weeks. Large altcoins including XRP and ETH were not spared; XRP posted a double-digit decline over the seven-day period. Attention now turns to what whales did during the slump and what could come next for the assets. BTC: Several factors likely drove the drop: heavy ETF outflows, fear sparked by large transfers from the U.S. government, macro headlines and profit-taking. Ali Martinez pointed to aggressive whale accumulation. In a video on X, the popular analyst said large holders bought more than $1.2 billion worth of bitcoin in 72 hours. In a separate bullish post, he said the TD Sequential had finally flashed a buy signal on the four-hour chart. It came after BTC fell 5.55%, from $86,976 on October 5 to $82,150, and after a roughly 7% slide over several days, hinting at a potential rebound. In an October 8, 2026, post, Ali Charts (@alicharts) noted the move and the potential for a rebound. ETH: The leading altcoin tumbled from above $2,700 to $2,400 before finding support. It rebounded to $2,500 on Friday but was stopped there and remains well in the red on a weekly basis. Martinez said Ethereum whales did not sit idle: they lifted holdings by 0.64%, or roughly 166,000 tokens, as the price corrected. ETH's 8% decline also triggered a TD Sequential buy signal on the four-hour chart after it slipped below $2,550, where it is now. Martinez sees a recovery toward $2,620-$2,650. XRP: Ripple's native token is still down double digits for the week, even after bouncing from a local low of $1.34. The rejection at $1.51 and the subsequent retracement allowed whales to resume accumulation. Martinez said large players bought more than 45 million tokens, worth about $63 million, during the nosedive. XRP's four-hour chart also produced a fresh buy signal, according to TD Sequential. "An earlier sell signal aligned closely with XRP's local high. Now, the question is whether this buy signal marks a local low," Martinez added. The post was first published on CryptoPotato.