3 Privacy Coins Crypto Whales Are Buying And Selling Ahead Of February 2026

What Happened

Among privacy coins, Dusk Network stands out for one reason: conflicting whale behavior. DUSK is still up nearly 200% over the past 30 days, possibly triggered by investors’ FOMO rush after missing DASH and XMR rallies. However, it has corrected more than 38% over the past seven days, creating a sharp divide between different holder groups as February approaches.

DUSK is forming a potential inverse head-and-shoulders structure, but the neckline is downward sloping, which raises the difficulty of a clean breakout.

Market Context

Zcash has been one of the strongest privacy coins over the past year, but momentum cooled sharply heading into 2026. Over the last month alone, the ZEC price dropped nearly 26%, reflecting broader risk-off behavior. That weakness, however, is starting to shift as February approaches.

In total, whales added approximately 6,500 ZEC, worth about $2.5 million at the current price. Exchange balances also declined during this period, reinforcing that this move reflects accumulation, not distribution.

The chart explains why whales are acting now. Since late December, ZEC has been trading inside a bear flag, a bearish continuation pattern that projected a potential 42% downside.

Momentum indicators support the shift. Between October 30 and January 25, the ZEC price formed a higher low, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) made a lower low.

This implies roughly 56.6 million DUSK was added by mega whales during the correction, worth about $8.2 million at current prices.

Momentum signals are early but improving. Between January 24 and January 28, the price is attempting to form a higher low, while RSI is printing a lower low, hinting at a hidden bullish divergence.

However, this setup only holds if the price stays above $0.140. A breakdown below that level would erase the divergence and expose downside toward $0.098.

Why It Matters

Instead, they are buying and selling these three privacy coins selectively, guided by momentum shifts, early reversal signals, and chart structures that could define the next leg up (or down).

However, that risk is now being challenged. Zcash has started pushing above the upper trendline of the flag, weakening the breakdown structure.

RSI measures momentum strength, and this mismatch signals hidden bullish divergence, meaning selling pressure was fading beneath the surface. Since that signal appeared, ZEC has already rallied about 24%.

On the downside, losing $325 would restore breakdown risk and invalidate the bullish whale thesis.

Details

Privacy coins were among the standout winners of 2025, but 2026 has been far less forgiving. Several former leaders have slipped into sharp corrections, while newer names flash unstable rebounds. As February begins, crypto whales are no longer betting blindly.

Zcash (ZEC)

Over the past 24 hours, crypto whales have stepped in aggressively. Standard Zcash whales increased their holdings by 45.19%, lifting their balance to roughly 14,500 ZEC.

At the same time, the top 100 addresses raised their exposure by 14.6%, pushing combined holdings to 43,722 ZEC.

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The key level ahead is $449. A clean break above it would invalidate most of the bear flag and open room toward $561, where the bearish structure fully collapses.

Dusk (DUSK)

On-chain data shows smaller whales are trimming exposure, while larger players are doing the opposite throughout this seven-day pullback.

Standard crypto whale wallets reduced holdings by 7.22% during the decline. In contrast, top-100 addresses increased their stash by 13.88%, lifting total holdings to 464.44 million DUSK.

This split makes sense when viewed through the chart.

The critical resistance zone sits between $0.176 and $0.190. A daily close above $0.190 would confirm the pattern and open a measured upside of roughly 68%, targeting $0.321–$0.330.