Crypto Whales Bet Big on These Three Altcoins for October 2026
Crypto whales are quietly accumulating positions in three altcoins as September ends. According to data from Santiment and Nansen, large holders have added Aave (AAVE), Uniswap (UNI), and Moonriver (MOVR) since September 28.
The clearest accumulation has been seen in AAVE, with wallets holding between 100,000 and 1 million tokens adding around 190,000 tokens worth approximately $30 million. This buying occurred while AAVE was rising towards $176, and the holdings have remained largely unchanged since then.
Aave's V4 deployment has passed $400 million in active loans, which may be contributing to the accumulation of AAVE. The token currently trades near $160, with support around $155 remaining important and a main level bulls need to reclaim being $176.
Uniswap presents a different picture, with whales adding about 1.13 million UNI since September 28, worth roughly $10 million. This buying looks like dip-buying, but whale holdings remain below levels seen earlier this month.
Moonriver is the speculative outlier, surging nearly 80% in 24 hours while Nansen data showed balances held by the top 100 addresses on one tracked contract rose by more than 11%. This points to aggressive momentum buying with much higher risk, given Moonriver's market cap of roughly $22 million.
The US inflation data came in cooler than expected and Fed rate hike odds for October dropped, which could be preparing whales for a potentially bullish cycle towards the end of 2026. However, it would largely depend on the underlying macro conditions following the November US midterms.