Popular chart analyst Ali Martinez has highlighted new on-chain data from Santiment Intelligence that points to a favorable shift in activity on the XRP Ledger, the payments-focused blockchain whose native asset is XRP. Transactions worth at least one million dollars have surged 280% compared with the previous day, a reading Martinez says hints at a macro trend switch from bearish to bullish. Counts of large transactions are a standard on-chain metric tracked across the crypto industry as a proxy for whale and institutional activity, though on their own they record value moving between wallets rather than the direction of any buying or selling.

Whales Are Loading Up

Martinez, who publishes analysis under the handle Ali Charts, shared the finding on X:

$XRP WHALES ARE BACK! Whale activity on the XRP Ledger has exploded over the past 24 hours. The number of transactions exceeding $1 million has surged 280%, climbing to more than 38 large transactions. pic.twitter.com/FDEdYzGl5

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) August 18, 2026

According to the data, large transactions — those exceeding $1 million — have climbed to more than 38 over the past 24 hours. The figures come from Santiment, an on-chain analytics firm that monitors wallet and transfer activity across major blockchains. XRP itself is currently trading at around $1, and holding this psychological support level is seen as crucial before the token can retest the confluent resistance at $1.06. The technical setup also shows a number of liquidity pockets between $0.80 and $0.90, though Martinez says whales — big-time crypto investors — are positioning for an upswing.

On the monthly chart, the Tom DeMark Sequential — a market-timing indicator that sequences price points to flag potential trend exhaustion and reversal — has printed a 'buy' signal, while whales have cumulatively acquired 380 million tokens over the same period. If the buying sentiment carries on, the sub-$1 XRP liquidity pockets could be shielded from unnecessary tapping, the analysis suggests.

Triple Bottom Meets Fibonacci Wedge

XRP's price is currently trading inside a closed Fibonacci Wedge structure, a technical instrument similar to the Fibonacci Retracement tool. It is used to determine XRP's long-term support levels as well as breakout potential. Right now, the wedge points to bigger opportunities for the bulls if XRP pushes past $1.10.

Conversely, a solid close below $1 could send the price all the way down to retest the major demand floor between $0.50 and $0.60. Counter to that bearish scenario, the one-hour charts have established a triple bottom around the $0.99 level — a chart pattern in which price tests and holds the same support zone on three separate occasions. If bulls manage to make use of this triple bottom, XRP could retest its mid-May highs around $1.50 — but not without the True Strength Index (TSI) flipping first.

The TSI measures bullish versus bearish impulses on a given timeframe, and negative readings indicate there is still more selling going on than buying. In addition, CMF, described as a whale-specific sentiment meter, indicates distribution of assets on most timeframes, while XRP's trading volume stood below its regular $1 billion level on Tuesday.