While such drastic changes in the market may seem to take place instantly, there is a distinct delay between the appearance of massive market orders and the general reaction of investors to its execution. This slight delay is the main reason why retail traders interested in optimizing their investment endeavors must track whales and their behavior.
Who are crypt whales?
The only apparent similarity between our beloved oceanic mammals and people moving large quantities of cryptocurrency at once is the size of their operations. Just like humpback whales change the balance of whole ecosystems, investors holding massive capitals and stakes in certain financial instruments can sway markets and change trends by simply placing a new market order.
- A crypto whale is a single individual or an institution with immense capital capable of owning a huge chunk of the overall crypto coin supply. In some cases, whales may hold up to 10% of the supply and can easily affect and manipulate the market by creating demand and supply or engaging in market making. It is crucial for any investor to track these capital holders to predict when they will make a move.
- A crypto whale tracker is a service or a technical indicator that can show you when large capital holders place orders. These tools can also provide meaningful information about the market and its trends. Some trackers can identify moments when certain crypto wallets that hold large amounts of tokens make moves. Some include information from social media platforms.
Since whales and their capital make such a big impact on the market situation at any given moment, some believe that it is impossible to account for. However, the very fact of these whales making purchases or selling their assets creates opportunities for other market participants if they can notice these changes in a timely fashion.
Benefits of whale tracking
Unlike many other tools that allow retail traders to make predictions about the market, whale tracking is a great way of actually reacting to what will unfold in the nearest future. Speculations about price action changes usually revolve around the most recent events in the market and rely on trading volumes. However, they often produce false positives and make errors due to the dilation of the data across multiple periods.
When you make an estimation based on the smoothed out progression of events, which is exactly what many technical indicators do, you will inevitably fall victim to delays caused by the process of averaging and extrapolation utilized by indicators. Speeding up the process by reducing the length of a period only makes everything chaotic and jittery.
Crypto whale tracking is more precise tool that gives attentive investor an advantage over the market as a whole. In essence, these tools usually track only two crucial types of data:
- Cash inflow for any certain financial asset. It means the amount of fiat money or other financial assets exchanged for a certain coin at any given time. With a sudden influx of capital, the price will inevitably go up as competition for asset units increases.
- Cash outflow is when the asset is being shorted by many large investors creating a sudden surplus of supply and causing the market to significantly reduce the price. When there is an increase in the number of short orders, the market will adjust accordingly.
These two parameters are the most important for any analyst. The best way to track what is happening across multiple markets is to watch whales who may have different account on various centralized and decentralized platforms where they place multiple short or long orders simultaneously causing the market to shift direction.
Whales often set trends and force other capital holders to follow suit. Without using any tools that allow you to track whale crypto wallets, you will quickly find it too challenging staying ahead of the competition.
Other important advantages enjoyed by crypto investors are:
- Seeing the intentions of large capital holders at the moment before other people start noticing their consequences.
- Staking analytics is a great method of crypto whale watching. You can see what stake holders do with their staked assets in real time.
- Observing the inflow and outflow of assets regarding exchange balances allowing you to identify moments when whales prepare to create large short orders.
The latter is quite important for contemporary retail traders interested in dealing with crypto. Since blockchain rules allow all users to access the information on the blockchain, it means that any large transaction is immediately noticed. When whales move funds to exchanges, it usually signals that they are preparing to sell. When they remove funds from exchanges, the market believes that large capital holders are confident and will buy up more.
How to pick a good crypto whale tracker app
When it comes to choosing tools or products with utility, their efficiency and reliability should be prioritized. However, other aspects can be just as impactful and affect the final result. If you use something that has an overcomplicated interface and requires you to code, it will ultimately be less efficient than something that already has everything in place.
Let’s talk about some qualities that should be present in a good crypto whales tracker.
- Good interface. It is something that many people take for granted in their online products, but many services struggle to figure out which features and control elements make their products click with the audience. Search for something that you can easily understand and start using right away without climbing a steep learning curve.
- Multiple blockchains tracking. It is quite important for a these services to monitor several blockchain networks at once to ensure that you have the fullest picture of the market. Even the best bitcoin whale tracker will not provide a wide range of data to work with multiple types of cryptocurrencies. Choose products that support different networks.
- Signal generation. While many experienced retail traders prefer to track everything manually and use the data to inform their future market positions, it can be quite useful to integrate signals into automated trading systems. Notifications and other means of communicating opportune moments in the market can be convenient too.
- Real-time tracking. Some crypto whale alerts may not be delivered right on time. Even the slightest delay can be detrimental to your portfolio. Try to focus on working with products that do not have any delays and product signals quickly by tapping into the unfiltered on-chain information.
- Multiple integrations. You may like to receive alerts via very specific channels like Telegram or WhatsApp. It is also useful for a whale tracker to send signals directly to third-party platforms. TradingView has several integrated whale trackers that can be used to automate various trading strategies.
How do you check big whales in crypto?
It is hugely important to monitor any significant change in the market at any given moment. Since rich investors often sway the price by simply putting down a big order, you must try to keep track of as many whales as possible.
The easiest way to do it is to use a crypto whale tracker for free. Many platforms offer whale tracking tools that are very cheap of completely free to use. While institutional investors may get by without using every free tool available to retail traders, people with limited capital must focus on leveraging all possible advantages including cheap analytical instruments.
We recommend employing multiple tracking tools at once to ensure that you receive the latest data as soon as it is available. Some trackers may lag behind in certain scenarios like high network load while providing a wider scope of data during normal times. Others will deliver limited information but as quickly as possible.
What tools track crypto whales?
With contemporary analytical tools, you can optimize the performance of your portfolio and enjoy reliable returns on your investments. Each of the instruments we will discuss below requires mastering, but the learning process will significantly improve your understanding of the crypto world. You may use them separately or follow multiple trackers simultaneously to have more food for thought.
The biggest advantage of these tools is their price. Many analytical products that retail crypto traders use daily are relatively cheap.
Nansen — on-chain analytics made easy
If you are looking for a good instrument to track whale wallets, Nansen is one of the best choices out there. It is a highly specialized service that focuses on providing data from multiple blockchain networks in a concise manner without putting a hole in your pocket. With just $9 per month, it is a reasonably priced analytical instrument beloved by thousands of experienced crypto investors.
People who want to use a good whale watcher for crypto will find two main features of the product quite intriguing:
- Use the so-called Token God mode to receive tons of data about specific blockchains. The tool provides several types of information including smart wallet token holdings, currently performed transactions, bids and asks on decentralized platforms, and even total holdings of large centralized exchanges. This information can be invaluable to someone who wants to be ahead of the market.
- Wallet profiler is another incredibly useful tool that allows you to monitor current balances of blockchain wallets. It is crucial to focus on analyzing the disposition of assets in the market to ensure that your crypto research yields good results in the long run.
DeBank — a great way to see whale stats for crypto
The balance between traded and held tokens is one of the most telling things for any investor. If a large number of users prefer holding their assets, the price should go up due to the increased demand. The opposite is true when the supply on the market exceeds reasonable threshold for price equilibrium. Identifying when either happens is hugely important.
DeBank allows its users to dive deep into the data publicly available in any blockchain network. You can effortlessly audit the network to find people who make decisive moves and can sway the price. Use this platform to conduct thorough research:
- Look for the richest holders of specific tokens.
- Identify people who use tokens frequently and affect price fluctuations.
- Select crypto wallets that you want to continuously monitor.
The best thing about DeBank is that you can use many of its features for free. However, many bits of data will be presented with a slight delay and the volume of information will be smaller compared to what is available in the paid plan.
DexCheck — a great destination for crypto traders
It is not the best crypto whale tracker, but it offers a wide range of useful features that a crypto retail trader will undeniably appreciate. DexCheck is a highly specialized platform that focuses on providing essential analytical information about decentralized financial organizations and other DeFi platforms.
The current list of features is quite impressive and the development team promises to keep expanding it. The most interesting feature that you should check out is their crypto whales tracker that provides information about top token holders on multiple blockchains.
Here are some advantages of using DexCheck:
- The platform supports 10 different blockchain networks and offers a wide range of data on all of them.
- You may look at the data using a very useful feature that presents all wallet balances in USDT.
- Track specific crypto wallets that you are interested in and receive notifications via multiple channels.
While many features of DexCheck come at a relatively high price, the wallet tracking functionality is free to use and can be very useful for an attentive investor.
How do I track crypto whales transactions?
Using both DexCheck and DeBank is a good way to monitor specific wallets that have big balances and can sway the market. However, you can also track some transactions using unique technical indicators on the TradingView platform. The latter is one of the best services to use if you are interested in copy trading crypto or using any other form of automation.
Since millions of retail traders use various forms of bots to optimize profitability, it is only natural that highly specialized whale alerts for crypto trading were developed by the TradingView community. These tools are imperfect and won’t be a perfect substitute for actual wallet tracking, but they can be excellent at confirming signals generated by your trading strategy.
Here are three interesting strategies that are available on TradingView right now:
- BTC’s #4 Whale Sells. Designed by TheSecretGuy, this tool tracks one particular Bitcoin wallet that seems to place very specific market orders and often either sways the price or predicts the next long-term trend. This Bitcoin whale alert is like having a second opinion when trading. The last update was published in the end of 2022, but many users still deploy this tracker to confirm some of their ideas about the future direction of the Bitcoin market.
- Whale Finder is a great custom script that identifies when large orders are placed in the market indicating that whales are making their moves. It is a straightforward BTC whale alert that works quite well and often delivers surprisingly precise forecasts. You should never use it as is and just allow your bots to follow signals from this indicator alone. However, when combined with other trading strategies, it can work well.
- Whale Pump Detector is a great addition to the L2 KDJ system. The KDJ is a simple stochastic indicator with an added J line that represents deviation from K and D values. The Whale Pump Detector is a special tool designed to monitor market activities and analyze them to identify whether large wallets place large orders. It is a great whale alert for crypto traders and offers interesting insights for investors interested in buying Bitcoin at a low price.
To use these indicators efficiently, one must understand why they are trading crypto. What is cryptocurrency trading? It is a unique occupation for a contemporary investor interested in working with the most advanced type of financial assets using the latest technological advancements in the fintech industry.
While you need to watch Bitcoin whales to make informed decisions, you may react too slowly even with the best internet connection and quick hands. The problem with the crypto market is that centralized exchanges can execute orders instantly making it impossible for humans to be faster that robots.
It is the main reason why so many retail traders are using bots to trade cryptocurrencies. The TradingView platform is an excellent provider of alerts that can be sent directly to an automation platform like WunderTrading to trigger bots into action. Whale trackers deployed on a TradingView chart can also generate alerts.
Should you track crypto whales?
Monitoring cash flow in the market is an incredibly important activity for any investor. The biggest difference between traditional financial markets and the crypto market is that we have access to all the information on any blockchain. It can be audited by anyone. It creates a level playing field and democratizes the market.
All investors can see what other token holders are doing at the moment. However, there should be a limit to which you should trust your own judgment. The Bitcoin community is obsessed with monitoring whale wallets passionately discussing each large transaction caught by observers. While such transaction may indeed change the situation in the market, you should wait until you are sure that the transaction is related to trading.
Sometimes, people simply shuffle their assets or manage their portfolios. A significant transaction between wallets owned by centralized exchanges and other wallets is a much bigger signal.
Make each investment decision after careful consideration
A good advice to any investor is to keep your mind calm and clear. Some whales love teasing the community and moving funds just for the sake of moving. They know that large transactions often create commotion on Reddit and other social media platforms. You should never allow anyone to affect your judgment.
Whale watching is a good habit to have for any retail trader, but you should always focus on making the right call in the moment. Combine your crypto research with signals from technical indicators, test various trading strategies with automation to speed up the process, compare results and use the most effective approach.
Just tracking top token holders and their actions will never yield good results in the long run. It is a useful source of ideas, but a narrow one. Inevitably, you will overreact to a transaction that will never have a huge impact on the market.
The main takeaway
The information about top token holders and their intentions is a great source of insights for any investor, but it should never be the main foundation for decision-making when it comes to investing. You need to know who is moving funds to exchanges or withdraws assets. You must take interest in who is staking their coins or trying to sell them off. However, focusing too much of what other people are doing can be just as detrimental as not paying attention to them at all.
Use whale tracking to improve your investment game and make sure to use other analytical tools to optimize profitability and achieve success.