An analysis said exchange circulating supply in the XRP market is falling and long-term holding is strengthening.

Blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported on Feb. 23 that more than 7 billion XRP left trading platforms in February. Prices stayed weak, but on-chain data showed a contrasting move of rising accumulation.

The key point is a divergence between price and investor behaviour. XRP has stayed in a downtrend since late 2025, but on-chain data showed accumulation by retail investors and some large holders has accelerated. CryptoQuant data showed February net outflows were the biggest since November 2025.

Evernode said the shift is meaningful. Investors typically move tokens to exchanges when selling, while withdrawing assets suggests a preference to hold, it said. That raised the possibility that the amount of XRP that can immediately come to market has fallen sharply.

By exchange, Binance saw the largest outflow at more than 3.3 billion XRP. That was about half of the total. Meaningful outflows were also confirmed at Bybit and OKX. If the trend continues, reduced liquidity could increase price volatility when demand later recovers, the report said.

Retail investor indicators also point in the same direction. The number of wallets holding 1,000 to 100,000 XRP hit a record high of 1.1 million. Santiment data showed wallets in that band increased by more than 77,000 since October 2025. Given XRP's price fell by more than 50 percent over the same period, it suggests new entry and additional accumulation continued even in a bearish market.

The total amount of XRP held by those retail investors also rose to 10.56 billion from 10.04 billion. By contrast, mid-sized investors holding 100,000 to 10 million XRP sold more than 3 billion over the same period, suggesting some took profits.

Moves by large whales tilted back toward accumulation. Wallets holding 10 million to 100 million XRP bought more than 3.4 billion more over the same period. Data also showed net buying of several million XRP a day continued into early April. With exchange balances falling and whale accumulation occurring at the same time, some interpreted that a structure tightening supply is forming.

There are also counterarguments to that interpretation. Figures in the XRP community said exchange balance data may not be complete. Some analyses say exchange holdings tend to converge on specific exchanges such as Binance, raising the possibility the data may not fully reflect the overall market.

Some also raised an analysis that XRP held across exchanges generally does not stray far from 15 to 16 billion. Given new exchange wallets are not immediately detected, the current data may be undercounted versus actual holdings, they said.

Ultimately, the XRP market is showing signs of rising accumulation and shrinking liquidity at the same time, but the reliability of data on exchange balances remains disputed. A key point to watch will be whether accumulation by retail investors and whales continues alongside changes in actual exchange holdings.