On the surface, the crypto market seems to be having a lackluster day, trading flat since yesterday. Over the past week, most categories — smart contract platforms, layer-1s, DeFi tokens, DEX tokens, and even meme coins — have been under pressure. The global crypto market cap has dropped from $4 trillion to $3.86 trillion, a decline of 3.5% over the past few days.
But under the surface, smart money — wallets known for quick gains and sharper positioning — are quietly accumulating. Here are three altcoins Smart Money are buying despite the broader market weakness.
Shiba Inu has corrected more than 6% over the past seven days, but the pullback seems to have drawn strong buying interest.
With September rate cuts on the horizon and risk-on appetite returning, smart money appears to be positioning early in SHIB, making it one of the altcoins Smart Money wallets are buying right now.
On-chain data confirms this. Over the past week, smart money wallets lifted their holdings by 9.29%, adding about 3.78 billion SHIB.
But the bigger picture is even more telling. The top 100 addresses accumulated another 152.7 billion SHIB, while exchange balances dropped by 1.1 trillion SHIB.
In total, nearly 1.2 trillion SHIB, worth approximately $15.7 million, has shifted into stronger hands, indicating that accumulation extends far beyond just smart money.
Technicals provide further support. Looking at the 4-hour chart, which often reveals short-term trend reversals, SHIB has just flipped bullish after six consecutive bearish sessions.
The bull bear power (BBP) indicator, which measures the balance of buying and selling pressure, has turned positive, hinting that bulls are regaining control.
The immediate resistance sits at $0.00001244. A 4-hour close above this level could pave the way toward $0.00001273, while downside risks resurface below $0.00001216 and invalidate fully under $0.00001198.
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Uniswap’s token has had a relatively muted August, with prices sliding more than 3.5% over the past month. Despite this correction, smart money has been quietly building positions, suggesting growing confidence in the DEX token narrative. With stablecoin liquidity and decentralized trading activity steadily rising, tokens like UNI remain central to the DeFi space.
That context, along with expectations of September rate cuts, may be pushing smart money to accumulate now.
Over the last 30 days, smart money holdings of UNI rose 6.51%, bringing their total stash to 41.67 million UNI. At the current UNI price of $9.77, that translates into buying of roughly $24.9 million.
Whales have also added to their positions, picking up 8.74 million UNI. At the same time, exchange reserves dropped by 0.89%, or 5.8 million UNI, signaling outflows.
Altogether, this accumulation reflects over $167 million in UNI buying strength spread across smart money, whales, and exchange outflows — highlighting that UNI is one of the altcoins Smart Money are buying aggressively.
From a technical perspective, UNI is trading at $9.77 and remains supported by a long-term ascending trendline that has acted as the base of a broader pattern.
Immediate resistance is at $9.90, and a breakout above that level could open upside toward $10.20 and $10.50.
The more decisive test lies at $11.63, which would confirm a bullish reversal. However, if UNI slips below $8.67, it would invalidate this setup and shift sentiment back to the bears.
Lido DAO (LDO), another DeFi bet following Uniswap, has also attracted accumulation from smart money in the past week.
Despite LDO correcting by over 17% in late August, smart money added 2.36% to its stash, now holding 26.48 million tokens. The top 100 addresses mirrored this bias, lifting their holdings by 0.13% (around 1.08 million tokens, worth $1.32 million).
At the same time, exchange balances fell by 2.2 million tokens valued at nearly $2.7 million.
Together, this translates into more than $4.7 million in net buying pressure, suggesting broad accumulation from smart money and large holders even as whales trimmed their stash by 13.48% (15.68 million tokens).
Technically, the 4-hour chart shows that LDO has broken out of a descending triangle that had capped price action since August 23.
This move means the bearish trend has been invalidated, though it does not yet confirm a bullish reversal. It is interesting to note that the bearish power, per the BBP indicator, has also waned.
Smart money may be betting that invalidating this bearish setup could open the door for a short-term rebound, provided price builds strength above $1.26. If that level is flipped, the next test would be $1.29, which remains a major resistance.
For invalidation, if LDO falls back under $1.21, it would slip beneath the broken trendline, raising doubts over the rebound. A decisive breakdown below $1.18 would fully invalidate smart money’s optimism and return momentum to the bears.
