Crypto whales are quietly building positions in three altcoins as September ends. But they are making three very different bets.
Large holders have added Aave (AAVE), Uniswap (UNI), and Moonriver (MOVR), according to data from Santiment and Nansen. How will prices potentially react?
AAVE Whales Buy as V4 Gains Traction
AAVE has seen the clearest accumulation.
Wallets holding between 100,000 and 1 million AAVE added roughly 190,000 tokens since September 28, according to Santiment. At current prices, that is worth around $30 million.
Much of the buying came while AAVE was rising toward $176. Those holdings have since remained largely unchanged, suggesting whales have held through the pullback.
The buying also comes as Aave says its V4 deployment has passed $400 million in active loans.
AAVE now trades near $160. Support around $155 remains important, while $176 is the main level bulls need to reclaim.
UNI Whales are Buying the Pullback
Uniswap presents a different picture.
Whales have added about 1.13 million UNI since September 28, worth roughly $10 million, even as the token fell from $9.66 toward $8.45.
That looks like dip-buying. However, whale holdings remain below levels seen earlier this month, so the latest accumulation has only recovered part of previous selling.
UNI’s key level is around $8.45. Holding above it would keep the rebound intact.
MOVR Whales Chase a 79% Rally
Moonriver is the speculative outlier. MOVR surged nearly 80% in 24 hours, while Nansen data showed balances held by the top 100 addresses on one tracked contract rose by more than 11%.
That points to aggressive momentum buying. It also comes with much higher risk. MOVR has a market cap of roughly $22 million, meaning relatively small flows can move the price sharply.
As the US inflation data came in cooler than expected and Fed rate hike odds for October dropped, whales could be preparing for a potentially bullish cycle towards the end of 2026.
However, it would largely depend on the underlying macro conditions following the November US midterms.