TL;DR
A whale is an individual or entity holding a very large amount of a cryptocurrency, whose trades can significantly move the token’s price.
There’s no strict threshold, but in the Solana memecoin world, holding 2-5%+ of a token’s supply usually qualifies. For SOL itself, whales typically hold millions of dollars worth. Whale status is relative to the token — holding $50K of a $500K market cap memecoin makes you a whale, while $50K of SOL doesn’t. What matters is whether a single wallet’s sell would meaningfully impact the price.
When a whale sells a large position in a low-liquidity memecoin, the price can crash 30-80% instantly. Conversely, a whale buying into a small token can pump the price dramatically. This is why holder distribution matters — a token where the top 10 wallets hold 50%+ of supply is vulnerable to coordinated or sequential dumps.
Wallet X-Ray on MadeOnSol lets you analyze any wallet’s holdings, PnL, and trading patterns. Copy trading tools let you mirror whale trades. On-chain data makes whale tracking fully transparent — you can see exactly when large holders buy, sell, or transfer tokens. Many profitable traders build their edge by identifying skilled whale wallets and monitoring their activity.