Why is a high-volume wallet not on the whale list?

Because WhaleRadar counts open positions and account size. A wallet that trades a lot but holds little at the end of the day is not a whale here.

Guides and reference · Volume is not a whale: why WhaleRadar counts positions

Guide 20 of 211 min read

Volume is not a whale: why WhaleRadar counts positions

Why a wallet with huge trading volume can hold almost nothing, and how WhaleRadar decides what counts as a whale.

Good for: a leaderboard of the biggest traders by volume, or a wallet that trades all day.

Say a wallet traded $2B yesterday and tops a volume list. It may hold nothing tonight. Market makers trade both sides all day, and some wallets trade with themselves to farm points. Volume measures activity, not money at stake.

Positions, not volume

WhaleRadar counts a whale by its open positions and its account: positions of $1M or more in the largest accounts and the most active smaller ones. Volume that comes back to zero within a day makes no whale.

Labels for the rest

A wallet that trades both sides at low leverage is labelled a market maker, one whose positions offset each other a hedger. They stay visible but do not count in the Whale Tide. More on this in directional bets, market makers and hedges and can whale trackers be gamed?.

What volume won’t tell you

It won’t tell which way a wallet leans or how much it has at stake.