As reported by Whale Alert, a whopping $81,147,781 worth of XRP appeared on Coinbase, and this alone was enough to turn a slow morning into a hot one. Because whenever more than 40 million XRP flows into a major US exchange at once, traders assume something bad is about to happen.
Adding to the tension, this transfer occurred at the same time that XRP was already in an illiquid and volatile short-term setup, a combination that tends to exaggerate any sell-off.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 40,163,328 #XRP (81,147,781 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Coinbase https://t.co/96BC5MwH7O
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) November 20, 2025
A few hours after the move, XRP’s price suddenly dropped below $1.90, but quickly returned to around $1.93. This is a common pattern when size comes in on the exchange side of the market and traders are not prepared to take defensive positioning.
clearing imbalance
Derivatives were added to the heavier background. Subsequently, a liquidation heatmap by CoinGlass showed a massive 3,554% imbalance in XRP, with longs taking almost all the damage, and this pressure appeared at the same time as BTC and ETH liquidated hundreds of millions worth of liquidations.
Therefore, the main question remains the same. What does the $81 million inflow into Coinbase really mean? Some people think it was a pre-sale set up based on the size alone, while others say it was a routine move within the company that happened to happen at the wrong time in a fragile market.