The price of Shiba Inu recently recorded an unexpected increase of more than 13%, decisively breaking away from the extended bearish trend that suppressed his momentum. Notably, 2026 is already shaping up to be a transformational year for the crypto market, with meme coins such as Shiba Inu set to benefit from the broader bullish move and rising demand. Now at Shiba Inu price testing zones of higher valuationdata in the chain revealed the underlying forces behind the recent price spike
Key drivers of Shiba Inu price growth
Shiba Inu grew up more than 13% on Sunday, January 4, as wider 2026 meme coin frenzy it started unexpectedly and continued to rotate capital among speculative assets. According to data from Santiment, a crypto analytics platform, SHIB’s sudden turnaround it was mainly driven by aggressive accumulation of high-end whales rather than a surge in retail demand.
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In a post on X, Santiment analysts noted that the big holders were tightening grip on the Shiba Inu stock amid muted retail distribution. This behavior indicates growing confidence among the dominant whale wallets and suggests that the recent price rally has not been fueled by short-term buying fueled by hyperactivity.
Price data also shows that the Shiba Inu’s rally began in early January this year, after spending several weeks consolidating near recent lows. Namely, the recent jump followed prolonged downtrend which lasted from late October to December 2025, making the 13% jump in price stand out as a clear change in momentum.
Overlaying the price action is the rising line on Santiment’s chart that follows percentage of SHIB supply held by the top 10 whale wallets. While prices fluctuated during the second half of 2025, this indicator rose steadily, signaling consistent accumulation even as broader market conditions remained weak.
At the time of analysis, the top 10 Shiba Inu wallets together controlled about 62.65% of the total supply. Such a high level of concentration is unusual and gives large chip holders significant impact on short-term price movements. The single largest wallet alone held approximately 41% of SHIB’s total supply, valued at approximately $3.3 billion.
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Meanwhile, other top Whale wallets controlled between 2.8% and 5.7%, with several individual addresses worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Notably, the timing of the Shiba Inu’s 13% price jump is aligned with the observable increasing concentration of whales to the far right of the chart. As more supply became locked in, available liquidity decreased, allowing relatively modest buying pressure to push prices significantly higher.
Total earnings of Shiba Inu in 2026 so far
According to Santimento, the Shiba Inu’s 2026 performance is now up more than 32% year-to-date (YTD). If wallet concentration remains high and whales continue to grow richer, volatility is likely to persist because prices react quickly to changes in the behavior of large landowners. At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is trading at $0.00000916, reflecting an increase of roughly 5% in just one day.
Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
