Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 'Mar-a-Lago luncheon' event, holders of the meme coin TRUMP are increasing their holdings.

On April 13, blockchain media outlet Cointelegraph reported the whales are competing to accumulate tokens to make the invitation list for a luncheon in Florida’s Mar-a-Lago this month.

The event is scheduled for April 25. The top 297 TRUMP holders will be invited to the Mar-a-Lago luncheon, and the top 29 will also be offered a separate private reception. Event information lists President Trump as the keynote speaker. On the same day in Washington, the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is also scheduled.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain said a whale investor on April 12 withdrew 105,754 TRUMP from Binance and added it to an existing large holding. The wallet’s total holdings are 1.13 million tokens, valued at about $3.2 million. Two days earlier, another whale withdrew 850,488 TRUMP from Bybit. Two days before that, on April 10, another whale withdrew 850,488 TRUMP from Bybit.

Large whales continued accumulating on April 13. Blockchain explorer Solscan said one holder increased holdings to more than 368,000 TRUMP after a withdrawal from BitMart, while another whale expanded holdings to more than 1 million TRUMP after a withdrawal from Bybit.

Despite the accumulation, the price is weak. TRUMP rose to $4.35 right after the luncheon announcement in March, but as of April 13 it was trading at $2.80, down more than 33 percent since then. Dominick John (도미닉 존), an analyst at Zeus Research, said selling by retail investors is overwhelming thin liquidity, keeping prices resetting lower. He said overhang from insider supply remains, adding, "Even small distributions coming out of concentrated wallets can absorb whale buying and limit meaningful upside."

John also left open the possibility of a rebound. He said the 2026 U.S. midterm elections could stimulate investor sentiment, and additional positive catalysts could help form a bottom. He also cited the possibility of an event-style launch such as the 'Trump Billionaire Game' as a short-term driver, adding such events could generate social media buzz needed for short-term upside momentum.

Holdings are also highly concentrated. Data analytics platform CoinCarp counts 642,882 TRUMP holders, but more than 91 percent of total supply is concentrated in the top 10 wallets. The top 100 wallets account for more than 97 percent. That structure means moves by a small number of wallets can have a large impact on price.

Political backlash also persists. Critics have claimed President Trump is using the token structure to leverage public office for private gain. Democratic lawmakers have also introduced legislation to limit the exercise of political influence and profit-making through meme coins.

TRUMP has already shown a similar pattern once before. President Trump held the first 'crypto gala' dinner in May 2025, and conflict-of-interest concerns were raised then as well. The token price rose to $15.59 about a month before the event, but fell as the event approached and slid to around $8.90 a month after the event.

The latest case shows the token price may not rise immediately even if large holders keep accumulating. In a structure with high ownership concentration and thin liquidity, wallet distribution and actual selling pressure weighed on prices more than expectations around the event.

Whales are accumulating $TRUMP for #Trump's Luncheon. Whale 8DHkza withdrew 850,488 $TRUMP($2.4M) from #Bybit in the past 2 days. Whale 7EtuAt withdrew another 105,754 $TRUMP($298K) from #Binance 17 hours ago and currently holds 1.13M $TRUMP($3.2M).https://t.co/Qns5mI638Z… pic.twitter.com/VRYmLb6gxJ