A whale is someone who holds a very large amount of a particular coin. A whale can be a person, a company, a fund or an exchange. There is no fixed threshold, but the term means a holding so large that buying or selling it can move the price.
How do whales affect the market?
When a whale sells a large amount at once, the buy orders near the current price can run out. The price then falls until there are enough buyers. The effect is greatest in coins with low LiquidityLiquidityHow easily an asset can be bought or sold quickly at a fair price, without the trade moving the price much., where a few holders own a large share of the supply.
In big coins like bitcoin, it takes a lot to move the price. In small tokens, though, a single whale can largely set the price. That is one reason such tokens are risky and get used in pump and dumpPump and dumpA scam in which the price of a small coin is hyped up so the organisers can sell high and leave others with the losses. schemes.
Can you track whales?
Partly. Every transaction on a public blockchain is visible, so anyone can spot large transfers in a block explorerBlock explorerA website where anyone can look up transactions, wallet addresses and blocks on a blockchain.. Some services monitor these transfers and post about them.
Be careful not to read too much into them. A large transfer may just be an exchange moving funds between its own wallets, not a sale. And even when a wallet addressWallet addressA string of letters and numbers you give out to receive crypto, much like a bank account number. is known, it isn't always clear who owns it.
Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 18 October 2026.