A whale is an individual or entity that holds a large amount of cryptocurrency - enough that their trades can significantly impact market prices. The term comes from the image of a large creature causing waves.
Whale characteristics: Hold significant percentage of supply, trades can move markets, often early adopters or institutions, and tracked by blockchain analysis.
Whale watching: On-chain analytics can track large wallets, whale movements may signal market trends, exchange inflows/outflows monitored, and alerts available from services like Whale Alert.
Whale impact: Large sells can crash prices, accumulation may signal bullishness, manipulation concerns exist, and their behavior influences market sentiment.