Recent dramatic events have shaken the OM token community. A newly formed “whale” community moved a lot of tokens into OKX, a centralized exchange, just days before the catastrophic 90% price drop.
The scale of the sell-off was massive. Price action and orderbook conditions raised flags, and on-chain analysts started watching this community’s movements to figure out what was going on.
Yesterday, Wallet Watch interpreting on-chain moves indicated that this community was either capitulating or manipulating.
Based on data from the blockchain, this grouping—identified as 26 newly formed OM whales—has moved 14.27 million OM tokens, worth about $91 million, into OKX over the three days preceding the drop. The transfers’ average price was roughly $6.375, hinting at either a synchronized exodus or a significant risk-off move by this set of token holders just prior to the price nosedive.
From Aggressive Accumulation to Steep Losses
What makes this activity all the more remarkable is what this whale had been up to before. Just weeks earlier, in late March, the same group had defiantly amassed 84.145 million OM tokens from Binance at an average price of $6.711; a position that made a hole in their wallets to the tune of approximately $564.7 million.
Currently, with the price of OM having fallen more than 90%, the remaining tokens amounting to 69.08 million are valued at just $62.2 million, which translates to an unequaled loss of around $406.3 million. This situation somehow manages to capture the essence of the not-so-great volatility of crypto-assets, with its being one of the largest capital drawdowns in the not-so-long history of OM.
Just within 3 days before the crash, this group of fresh $OM whales moved 14.27M $OM (~$91M) to #OKX at an average price of $6.375.
Back in late March, they had jointly scooped up 84.15M $OM from #Binance for ~$564.7M (avg. $6.711).
Now, after a brutal ~90% drop, their… https://t.co/H7EASdsZaG pic.twitter.com/VsePiGlStV
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) April 14, 2025
Still, some analysts are not convinced that the cohort is entirely exposed. They speculate that the whales may have hedged their OM holdings through a variety of off-chain instruments or derivative platforms, which would have certainly softenened the impact of the price collapse. But even if that’s true (and it’s certainly a plausible scenario), it doesn’t change the fact that these big players transferred a whopping 1.45 million tokens to OKX, in what a lot of folks seem to believe was a direct contributing factor to the then-ongoing cascading sell pressure that resulted in OM’s price collapse.
Liquidations Soar as OM Crashes
The aftermath has been cruel and immediate. As the token price dropped, $68.73 million in liquidations were set off in a mere 12 hours, according to CoinGlass. Slamming this home in a big way was the fact that ten liquidated positions were hit for more than $1 million each, which really suggests that even well-capitalized players were caught in the crossfire. In total, ten separate positions were each hit for more than $1 million.
Both retail and institutional investors have been left flailing as OM’s price wiped out weeks of gains in a matter of hours. Many who entered late or used leverage found themselves forced out before they had a chance to react. The token’s sudden collapse has also prompted some rethinking of market structure and the role of centralized exchanges, and has shone a light on the risks of sudden moves by whales.
Eyes on the Entity’s Next Move
At present, the focus is shifting back to the organization responsible for initiating the transfers. They hold more than $62 million in OM. Their next step could give us serious hints about the short-term price trajectory for the token.
A few analysts believe the group might go on unwinding their position, particularly if they’ve not already done so, have secured profits, or have offset losses elsewhere in their book. Others believe they might unwind, stay in cash, and hope to re-enter the market after the storm has passed in order to regain their former market share.
No matter what they intend to do, the situation brings to light a wider truth about the crypto market: when large players take to the blockchain, they can change sentiment and price action, and when they do it, it’s become de rigueur for traders to watch them if they want to stay one step ahead in an increasingly two-dimensional market.
For OM, the way forward is unclear.
Recent events have dealt a short-term confidence blow, but they’ve also upped the token’s profile — and with it, the potential for some rebound interest from traders and funds looking to capitalize on extreme dislocation.
Whether this is the end of the recent downward price trend or just another leg in a price unstable house of cards will depend, in large part, on what the whales do next.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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