Shiba Inu saw a fresh wave of selling pressure on May 18 as billions of SHIB — roughly 3 billion tokens — flowed onto exchanges amid wider crypto liquidations.
On-chain tracker CoinGlass recorded SHIB open interest at $61.2 million that day, while about $42,485 in futures positions were liquidated over 24 hours as leveraged longs were unwound. The token changed hands at $0.00000567 at time of reporting, down roughly 10% on the week and about 54% over the past 12 months from its $0.00008616 all-time high.
Exchange reserve data show a notable accumulation: Binance alone was holding about 61.8 trillion SHIB, a sharp rise since March as profit-takers moved balances onto platforms ahead of potential distribution. Tokens parked on exchanges are one step away from the open market, meaning big inflows mechanically expand available sell-side supply and can weigh on price when demand is weak.
The move follows other signs that large holders are active — institutional- and whale-level SHIB transactions surged 111% earlier in 2026 — suggesting repositioning rather than passive accumulation. The market backdrop has been unfavorable for meme assets: Bitcoin’s 22% drop in Q1 tightened conditions across speculative tokens, and SHIB, with a 589-trillion circulating supply, gains limited cushioning from burns since individual whale sales can offset months of reductions.
What it would take to stabilize: demand needs to mop up the extra supply rather than sellers encountering a thin order book. On-chain adoption of Shibarium remains uneven, and without clear upticks in utility metrics, upside will struggle. A planned Fully Homomorphic Encryption upgrade with cryptography firm Zama in Q2 2026 could add a privacy angle, but near-term price action will hinge on whether these exchange inflows reverse.
Crypto.news’ wider analysis warns that spikes in on-chain activity have often preceded further downside for meme coins in 2026, underscoring the risk that short-term on-exchange shifts by large holders can amplify volatility.
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