How to Find Ethereum Whales and Follow Their Money
Crypto whales are influential entities in the cryptocurrency ocean. Seasoned investors understand that whale watching is a necessary tool they need in their toolbox. Although whales do not control the crypto space, they wield a significant power that affects market dynamics.
They are individuals or entities that hold a significant amount of a crypto token, either fungible or non-fungible. Their large holding gives them the power to influence market sentiment and move the market however they want. Any activity can cause a ripple effect on the price of the token they are holding.
How do you identify a Crypto Whale?
Being identified as a whale is subjective to your portfolio and the token's market cap. That is, the requirement differs based on the market capitalization of the token you hold.
The requirement to be referred to as a crypto whale in the Bitcoin or Ethereum community isn't the same as any low-cap token. But the benchmark is that a crypto whale should hold at least 10% of a small market cap token or a minimum of $10 million for a large market cap token.
For example, an individual with $1 million in a $100 million market cap token has the power to influence the market dynamics of the token. However, an individual that holds the same amount ($1 million) of a token with a market cap of $20 billion isn't a whale because their portfolio can’t influence the market dynamics.
Who, then, is an Ethereum Whale?
An Ethereum whale holds a significant amount of the Ethereum token enough to influence the market dynamics of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Although some crypto whales are known, most of them are usually anonymous. However, with the blockchain's decentralization, openness, and immutability, you can see their total holdings and follow their activities.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how to discover Ethereum whales and follow their activities. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Top Five Reasons to Follow Whale Activities
Ethereum whales with sizable holdings can influence market sentiments and direction with their buy and sell actions. While it’s not all you should focus on, monitoring whale activities can be a significant part of your crypto investment research toolbox.
Sometimes, deciding profitable trades can be challenging, but with whale tracking, you can identify market trends and make reasonable decisions with ease.
Here are reasons to follow whale activities.
-
Gain Market Insighs
Experienced cryptocurrency investors and traders believe that crypto whales, because of their holdings, have access to market insights and insider knowledge. So, they usually make decisions that maximize their profit and reduce their loss.
When you track whales and follow their activities, you have first-hand information to make decisions that give you advantages over others and enable you to maximize your profit and minimize your loss.
For instance, when you monitor a whale’s wallet activities, you can easily time your entry and exit into a trade.
-
Vigilance in Trading: Recognizing Market Manipulation
Market manipulation is, no doubt, one of the viruses that's plaguing web3 and the crypto world at large. With Whale watching, experienced crypto traders and investors can research projects and activities of whales that might seem like market manipulation.
Because of whales' sizable holdings, they often make significant trades that easily stand out from regular market activities. However, with the transparency and immutability of the blockchain, you can see activities and trace them back to their origin.
And by this, you can check their past activities, observe their moves, analyze their intentions, and check what other whales are up to.
-
Network Health
The ethos of the crypto world is decentralization. But whales can be a threat to it because of their sizable holdings. Monitoring the activities of whales can give you insight into the health of a token or crypto network.
Most blockchain projects are community-governed, and your holding determines the strength of your votes and the power you wield in decision-making. The more the concentration of whales in a project, the more centralized the project decision-making can be.
Moreover, if a whale sits on a large percentage of a token, they can influence the price movements through their actions.
For example, say ten wallets hold 40% of a token. These ten accounts can direct the movement of a token.
-
Trading Signal
Crypto whales have a lot in common with large owners of company shares — they both have the power to influence the market. A whale’s action or movement of their holdings can spark a ripple effect among other investors. They usually carve the part for smaller investors to navigate.
When you follow their activities, you can predict what the market sentiment will look like. And being early to the show can put you ahead of others. When you see a large buy or sell order, you can follow suit to maximize your profit or minimize your loss.
For instance, seeing several Ethereum whales moving a large percentage of their portfolio from their decentralized wallet to exchanges signifies that they’ll likely dump the token. Seeing this can help you make a reasonable decision to avoid loss.
-
Portfolio Management
The crypto world is vast, and researching a promising project can be overwhelming to investors and traders. Watching whales can help you make reasonable portfolio management decisions.
While monitoring whales' activities, don't just follow their activities stone-blind. Always remember to Do Your Own Research(DYOR).
How to Find Ethereum Whales and Follow Their Money?
We assume you now understand who a crypto whale is. And so, they're easier to detect and track.
However, for emphasis, a whale is an individual who holds about $10 million worth of a particular token or about 10% of a token, depending on the token market cap. With this definition in mind, our next objective is to identify these whales' wallets. This is achieved by accessing data from the Ethereum blockchain.
You can track and analyze crypto whale activities on the blockchain via blockchain explorers and/or data analytics platforms like Bitquery.
In this article, we’ll track whales and follow their activities using Bitquery APIs.
Bitquery is a data infrastructure company that indexes, analyzes, and provides blockchain data. With access to over 40 popular chains and 100+ DEXes, you can retrieve needed information from any supported chains or DEXes.
This API-first data product firm makes it easier for investors, traders, and analysts to track whale wallets and monitor their activities.
Filter Ethereum Wallets
The first step to whale-watching is having a definite description of who a crypto whale is. And from previous sections, we’ve identified who a whale is — an individual or entity who holds either 10% or more of the total market cap of a token in circulation or over $10 million of a token with a large market cap.
So, in this article, because of Ethereum's large market cap, we’ll consider anyone with $10 million or more worth of TetherUSD in their wallet as a whale.
Now that we’ve defined our mark, let's find their wallet. We will pull data based on our requirement from the Ethereum blockchain using the Bitquery Token Holder API. To get started on using the APIs, sign up for free here. Full docs available here.
The Bitquery Token Holder API lets you track the information of both Ethereum fungible and non-fungible token holders. This API provides you access to the current holder data for the Ethereum token and their wallet information.
The query below retrieves information about the holders of Ethereum tokens (ETH) with wallet balances equal to or greater than $10 million as at 20th March, 2024. This query returns the top 20 accounts in descending order based on their wallet balance. You can adjust the parameters to get the latest data.
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
TokenHolders(
date: "2024-03-20"
tokenSmartContract: "0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7"
where: {Balance: {Amount: {ge: "10000000"}}}
limit: {count: 20}
orderBy: {descending: Balance_Amount}
) {
Balance {
Amount
}
Holder {
Address
}
}
}
}
Tracking the Whales Account Activities
The purpose of monitoring a whale’s wallet is to track their activities and gain insight into their strategies and moves. So, finding and identifying a whale's wallet is just one-quarter of what’s needed to build your whale-tracking toolkit.
Tracking whales’ account activities will give you insight into their interests and sentiments about a particular token. The Bitquery Address Balance History API is the best tool for this job. You’d learn to analyze their portfolio and understand how it has evolved.
The Address Balance History API lets you retrieve detailed information about your selected wallet. With this API, you gain access to their different portfolios and balances.
Knowing what they hold gives you insight into their beliefs and sentiments. You’d also gain a deep insight into how their wallet has evolved. Tracking the balance update over time will give you insight into their activities over a certain period.
The query below allows you to monitor significant balance updates (exceeding 100,000) over time for a specific whale wallet (address: 0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc).
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: combined, network: eth) {
BalanceUpdates(
where: {BalanceUpdate: {Address: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}
orderBy: {descendingByField: "balance"}
) {
Currency {
Name
}
balance: sum(of: BalanceUpdate_Amount, selectWhere: {gt: "100000"})
BalanceUpdate {
Address
}
}
}
}
The query below gives you insight into the frequency of balance updates by the whale with this address. You retrieve an aggregate figure to know if you need to further your analysis into the Whale activities.
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
BalanceUpdates(
where: {BalanceUpdate: {Address: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descendingByField: "no_of_updates"}
) {
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
}
no_of_updates:count
}
}
}
Tracking Frequency of Trades and Transfer Activities
Gaining insight into their wallet holding lets you understand the way they think. You also learn more about their strategies and if their beliefs align with your investment goals. While that’s great, you also need to check the activity level of the whale.
The DEXTrades API enables you to track the whale's frequency of trades and their activity level. With this API and queries, you learn about their activities.
The DEX Trades API below gives you insight into the frequency of trade activities by the whale with this address. You retrieve an aggregate figure to know if you need to further your analysis into the Whale activities.
{
EVM(dataset: combined, network: eth) {
buyside: DEXTrades(
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descending: Block_Time}
where: {Trade: {Buy: {Buyer: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}}
) {
Block {
Number
Time
}
Transaction {
From
To
Hash
}
Trade {
Buy {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
Symbol
SmartContract
}
Seller
Price
}
Sell {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
Symbol
}
Seller
Price
}
}
}
sellside: DEXTrades(
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descending: Block_Time}
where: {Trade: {Buy: {Buyer: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}}
) {
Block {
Number
Time
}
Transaction {
From
To
Hash
}
Trade {
Buy {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
Symbol
SmartContract
}
Seller
Price
}
Sell {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
Symbol
}
Seller
Price
}
}
}
}
}
This query also retrieves information about the total amount received and sent out by the whale.
{
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
TokenHolders(
date: "2024-03-22"
tokenSmartContract: "0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7"
where: {Holder: {Address: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}
) {
BalanceUpdate {
InAmount
OutAmount
}
Holder {
Address
}
}
}
}
The above queries provide an insightful analysis of the frequency of trades. We saw that as at 2024-03-22, this whale has over 20,000 onchain transaction count with over six billion dollars on transacted amount. This information showed us the activity level of this whale.
Checking Whales Activities in Realtime
You’ve gained insight into what they’re holding, their activity level, and the type of token they hold. It’s time to review their activities and analyze what they are doing to help you make insightful decisions.
The Token Transaction API lets you retrieve the whale’s on-chain transaction information.
Use the query below to track transfers in realtime. Gain insight into their recent activities with the USDT token.
subscription {
EVM(network: eth) {
Transactions(
limit: {count: 100}
where: {Transaction: {From: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}
) {
Block {
Time
Number
}
Transaction {
Hash
Cost
}
}
}
}
A token transfer to an exchange wallet shows the whale is moving their funds to centralized exchanges, which could signify an exodus.
While transfer from the exchange to their DEX wallet shows a different outlook.
Note: always DYOR and never follow whales sightless.
Monitoring Their Onchain Buy and Sell activities
Although whales might move their tokens off-chain, most whales don’t have to move their crypto holding off-chain, to CEXes, to execute trades.
Sophisticated whales decide to transact on-chain. They use DEXes to execute their trades on-chain anonymously. So this is why you should also monitor their on-chain buy/sell/mint activities.
In this section, we’ll go through ways to retrieve on-chain information about whales who decided to conduct transactions through DEXes and different decentralized platforms.
The Bitquery Address Trade API helps retrieve data about a whale's DEX activities of a whale. You can retrieve information about their buy/sell activities using the query below.
The Wallet DEXTrades API retrieves information where the whale is a buyer or seller of a particular token.
{
EVM(dataset: combined, network: eth) {
buyside: DEXTrades(
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descending: Block_Time}
where: {Trade: {Buy: {Buyer: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}}
) {
Block {
Number
Time
}
Transaction {
From
To
Hash
}
Trade {
Buy {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
Symbol
SmartContract
}
Seller
Price
}
Sell {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
Symbol
}
Seller
Price
}
}
}
sellside: DEXTrades(
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descending: Block_Time}
where: {Trade: {Buy: {Seller: {is: "0x66e092fd00c4e4eb5bd20f5392c1902d738ae7bc"}}}}
) {
Block {
Number
Time
}
Transaction {
From
To
Hash
}
Trade {
Buy {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
Symbol
SmartContract
}
Seller
Price
}
Sell {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
Symbol
}
Seller
Price
}
}
}
}
}
With the query above, you gain insight into what the whale is up to On-chain. The query retrieves transactions conducted On-chain
Case Study: How To Find Ethereum Whales and Follow Their Money
Based on the previous section, we’ve shown you how to track whales and follow their money using different Bitquery APIs.
However, to understand what whale tracking is like using Bitquery APIs, we’ll go through the processes together, analyzing an Ethereum Whale.
-
Finding an Active Whale Wallet
First, we find a wallet that fits into our description of whale — a wallet with a minimum of $10,000,000 worth of Ethereum or TetherUSD (USDT). The query below returned a wallet based on our requirements.
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
TokenHolders(
date: "2024-03-26"
tokenSmartContract: "0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7"
where: {Balance: {Amount: {eq: "10000000"}}, BalanceUpdate: {Count: {ge: "100"}, LastDate: {after: "2024-03-20"}}, Currency: {}}
limit: {count: 20}
) {
Holder {
Address
}
Balance {
Amount
}
}
}
}
The query above searched for USDT holders as at 2024-03-26,
where:
- Their USDT balance is 10,000,000USDT,
- The total Transaction count is not less than 100
- And the last transaction date is after 2024-03-20
- The limit means that only 20 wallet information should be returned.
After we run the query, it returns a single wallet information that meets all our requirements.
Here is the result returned.
{
"EVM": {
"TokenHolders": [
{
"Balance": {
"Amount": "10000000.000000"
},
"Holder": {
"Address": "0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9"
}
}
]
}
}
Note: Changing any of the parameters above would also change the result returned. Instead of returning a single account information, it could return up to 20 accounts, giving you the flexibility to pick an account that fits you best.
-
Tracking the Wallet’s account activities
It’s one thing to find an account, it’s another thing for the whale to be recently active on the chain. So, our next step is to check the activity level of the wallet address that the previous query returned.
Note: if we have more than one wallet address returned, we’ll go through each wallet to find one that meets our requirements.
With the Address Balance History API, we’ll track the whale’s account activities. With this query, we’ll be able to understand their sentiments, beliefs, and model of the crypto world. We also answer questions concerning their investment strategies.
Here is the query used to pull their account activity from the blockchain.
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
BalanceUpdates(
where: {BalanceUpdate: {Address: {is: "0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9"}}}
limit: {count: 3}
orderBy: {descendingByField: "balance"}
) {
Currency {
Name
}
balance: sum(of: BalanceUpdate_Amount, selectWhere: {gt: "50000"})
BalanceUpdate {
Address
}
}
}
}
The query above will return the list of the account transactions, currency name, token balance, and the smart contract of the token. A little research into the results and the token names, their smart contracts returned showed that the whale invested most of their funds in meme tokens.
However, if your sentiment aligns with the whales, you can go ahead with your research, else go back and look for another account.
-
Track the Frequency of Trades and Activities
Once we went through the wallet activities and realized the whale believes and sentiment aligns with ours, our next process is to analyze the wallet further for a deeper insight into the activity level of the wallet.
With this query to track frequency of trade, you can gain insight into the wallet's behaviour.
{
EVM(dataset: archive, network: eth) {
TokenHolders(
date: "2024-03-26"
tokenSmartContract: "0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7"
where: {
Holder: {
Address: { is: "0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9" }
}
}
) {
BalanceUpdate {
FirstDate
InAmount
LastDate
OutAmount
}
BalanceUpdate {
transactions: Count
}
}
}
}
The query above returns all transactions where the whale is the sender. It’d return the receiver of the token, the block hash, the value of the token sent, and the gas used. With this information, we can gain insight into the movement of the whale funds on- and off-chain.
Here is the result returned:
{
"EVM": {
"TokenHolders": [
{
"BalanceUpdate": {
"FirstDate": "2021-12-30",
"InAmount": "318907385.671756",
"LastDate": "2024-03-25",
"OutAmount": "308907385.671756",
"transactions": "627"
}
}
]
}
}
The information above showed us that the first transaction date on the account was on 30th of December 2021, and the last date is 25th March, 2024. The total amount received and sent over the lifespan of the account is over 318 million USDT and 308 million USDT respectively. The total transaction count over the course of the account is 627.
The result above showed us the activity level of the account.
-
Keeping up with the Whale in Realtime
After a little research, we’ve learned a lot about our whale account. Even though we don’t know the individual behind the account, we’ve learned a lot about their beliefs, sentiments, and investment strategies. Now let’s track their in realtime activities to make investment decisions we’d like to make.
subscription {
EVM(network: eth) {
Transactions(
where: {Transaction: {From: {is: "0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9"}}}
limit: {count: 40}
orderBy: {descending: Transaction_Value}
) {
Transaction {
To
Hash
Value(selectWhere: {gt: "1000"})
}
Receipt {
GasUsed(selectWhere: {le: "30"})
}
}
}
}
The query above returns all transactions where the whale is the sender. It’d return the receiver of the token, the block hash, the value of the token sent, and the gas used. With this information, we can gain insight into the movement of the whale funds on- and off-chain.
You can look through the result returned and do further research into any transaction that piques our interest using the block hash, or the receiver’s wallet address.
-
Monitoring Whale’s On-Chain Activities
Some whales are so sophisticated that they transact on-chain using DEXes. This is why we should also monitor the on-chain transactions of this whale. This lets you gain insight into their activities on-chain — the type of tokens they buy or sell on DEXes.
The query below will return the DEX transactions where the whale is a seller. The query will return the amount transacted, currency name and smart contract, and the buyer's information.
query MyQuery {
EVM(dataset: combined, network: eth) {
DEXTrades(
limit: {count: 10}
orderBy: {descending: Block_Time}
where: {Trade: {Sell: {Seller: {is: "0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9"}}}}
) {
Trade {
Sell {
Amount
Buyer
Currency {
Name
SmartContract
}
}
}
}
}
}
After running this query, we discovered that the whale with the wallet address(0x3f08f17973ab4124c73200135e2b675ab2d263d9) doesn’t trade onchain.
However, if after running the query above for a different wallet address, and it returns a list of transactions, you should go through the transactions to discover the pattern of their money flow and recent transactions that could signify trading signals.
Conclusion
Whale Tracking should be an important tool in your toolkit. Apart from helping you make informed decisions, it’s even a great tool to know what’s trending in the fast track crypto world. While this tool is important, you should also be careful with your discoveries. Always do extensive research before implementing strategies. Use your whale tracking discoveries as a starting point, rather than end point, for your strategies.
About Bitquery
Bitquery is your comprehensive toolkit designed with developers in mind, simplifying blockchain data access. Our products offer practical advantages and flexibility.
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Blog Written by Emmanuel
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