Between December 25 and now, XRP whales have gathered tokens worth $2.17 billion. This big purchase has led to speculation that XRP's price might soon hit new highs as we approach the end of the year.

However, while some whales are buying, others are selling. This raises questions about what it means for XRP's price.

According to Santiment, addresses holding between 1 million and 10 million XRP tokens increased their total balance from 4.85 billion on December 15 to 4.95 billion today. That’s an extra 100 million XRP bought in just three days.

At the same time, wallets with 100 million to 1 billion XRP grew their holdings from 8.86 billion on Sunday to 9.63 billion, adding 870 million tokens.

With XRP priced at $2.50, these whale purchases total about $2.17 billion. This kind of buying pressure usually signals a bullish trend, suggesting a potential breakout is on the horizon.

But here’s the twist: data from CryptoQuant shows that the expected breakout might not happen right away. This is due to the XRP Whales to Exchange Flow metric.

This metric tracks how large holders move their funds to and from centralized exchanges like Binance. When this flow increases, it indicates more tokens are going into exchanges. Conversely, a decrease means whales are withdrawing assets, which is typically a good sign.

In the last three days, this metric jumped from 2,243 to 3,585. This indicates more XRP tokens are flowing into exchanges. When compared to whale accumulation, it shows a mix of buying and selling among whales. But the accumulated tokens seem to outweigh the selling pressure. If this trend continues, XRP's price might steer clear of a bull trap.

BeInCrypto’s analysis of the XRP/USD daily chart reveals that the altcoin has formed a bull flag. A bull flag is a pattern that shows two upward rallies separated by a brief pause.

The pattern starts with a sharp price increase, creating a “flagpole” as buyers take charge. Then comes a pullback, forming parallel lines that look like a flag.

Right now, XRP's price is close to breaking above the flag’s upper trendline. If it does, the altcoin could rally towards $3.50 in the short term. But if XRP whales decide to sell large amounts, this trend could change. If the token drops below the lower trendline, we might see a fall to $1.98.