Transfers vs trades

A transfer row records that a token balance moved from one address to another. It is not a trade. It does not name a buyer or a seller, and it holds no price paid, no intent and no view on what happens next.

Most wrong conclusions from on-chain data start here, so this page sets out what the row supports.

#What a row states

#What a row does not state

#One transaction, many rows

Each qualifying log becomes its own row. A route through several contracts produces several rows that carry the same value.

This real transaction on Ethereum was captured on 2026-11-04 UTC. It moves about 1.48 million USDC through four hops in one transaction.

Transaction: 0x113d561da2487dec35344a17047525e51bb20cb264e1e80369abb9e2fede8f6c.

Summing usd on these rows gives $5.93 million for a movement of $1.48 million. Transfer statistics sum rows this way, so read them as "value of qualifying logs", and not as money moved.

To count distinct movements, group by tx and take the largest value per token.

curl -s "https://farbeamlabs.com/api/v1/transfers?chain=ethereum&limit=100" \
  | jq '[.data[]] | group_by(.tx + .token) | map(max_by(.usd).usd) | add'

const res = await fetch("https://farbeamlabs.com/api/v1/transfers?chain=ethereum&limit=100");
const { data } = await res.json();
const best = new Map();
for (const row of data) {
  const key = `${row.tx}:${row.token}`;
  best.set(key, Math.max(best.get(key) ?? 0, row.usd));
}
console.log([...best.values()].reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0));

import requests

rows = requests.get(
    "https://farbeamlabs.com/api/v1/transfers",
    params={"chain": "ethereum", "limit": 100},
    timeout=30,
).json()["data"]
best = {}
for r in rows:
    key = (r["tx"], r["token"])
    best[key] = max(best.get(key, 0), r["usd"])
print(sum(best.values()))

#Patterns that look like something else

#What a row needs to become a claim

If you want to say more than "a transfer happened", gather more.

1. Read the full transaction with Transaction lookup: status, method and all token movements.
2. Read both addresses with Wallet overview, and check is_contract.
3. Look at the label and its type, and remember a missing label means nothing.
4. State what you do not know.

#Failed transactions

ERC-20 rows come from logs, which exist only in successful transactions. Native ETH rows are read from the block's transaction list, and each gets a receipt check, so a reverted native transfer is not stored. Failed Solana transactions are skipped.

#Using this data responsibly

Farbeam shows that movements happened. It makes no statement on why, and makes no buy or sell calls. Large transfers do not predict price. Nothing here is financial advice. Read the disclaimer.