Following a rebound in the broader cryptocurrency market on Sunday, Bitcoin‘s price moved back above the $91,000 mark. Despite this bullish price action, which was brief as BTC has lost the level, major BTC holders are sharply exiting the market, raising questions about the stability of the current bounce.
A Key Bitcoin Cohort Has Stopped Accumulating
In the ongoing market recovery, there has been a shift in sentiment among Bitcoin key investors. A recent report by Joao Wedson, a market expert and founder of Alphractal, reveals that BTC’s typically unshakable giants, also known as whales, have now gone quiet.
Following several months of strategic buying activity, the whale cohort, those wealthy individuals who frequently control and influence market trends, has abruptly stopped accumulating. Specifically, this fading buying enthusiasm is spotted among wallet addresses holding between 100 BTC and 1,000 BTC.
According to the market expert, this shift in sentiment from the whale cohort is a development that demands close attention as the market fluctuates. This is likely because the absence of whale-sized demand creates an extra layer of complexity in the market, causing speculations about whether this is just a time of careful observation. Perhaps the first scene of a more extensive structural change.
Joao Wedson highlighted that this range often represents the real big players, funds, companies, and professionals, as most wallet addresses holding over 1,000 BTC are linked to crypto exchanges. What’s interesting about the current pause in whale accumulation is its similarities with that of the 2021 bull market cycle before prices drastically plummeted.
Just like in 2021, the whale cohort has ceased to accumulate BTC, and the annual fluctuation has begun to decline. Meanwhile, after months of fading buying activity from these investors, the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply, triggering a bear market phase.
Wedson has addressed any misconceptions toward the trend, noting that this is not a rule nor an automatic sell signal. However, it does demonstrate that major players are currently, at the very least, less enthusiastic about adding to their BTC stash.
Whales Are Currently Shorting BTC
While Bitcoin recovered above $91,000, whale investors were increasingly bearish about the recent bounce. In another post, Wedson reported an unusual tilt as large investors are quickly reducing their long positions or even raising their short positions in BTC.
BTC whales may be opening more short positions, but retail investors are continuously leaning into the upward direction. The contrast is dramatic, a sort of market structure in which small-investor zeal is overshadowed by deep-pocketed prudence.
Wedson, this divergence normally leads to a period of sideways price action, as seen back between March and April this year. However, this trend might imply that some bears are likely targeting the $80,000 price level again in order to sustain accumulation. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price was trading at $86,275, exhibiting a more than 5% decline in the past day.
Featured image from Pngtree, chart from Tradingview.com
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