Earlier in January, whales and humpbacks hit a peak in purchase of Bitcoins. Together, whales and humpbacks bought 80,000 Bitcoins worth about $3.84 billion at current prices. However, things reversed in February with whales and humpbacks resorted to profit booking, liquidating 140,000 Bitcoins worth $6.72 billion since the beginning of the month.
A study of the data indicates that whales and retail investors share an inverse-correlation. Glassnode pointed out that “dolphins” and “sharks”, reflecting addresses holding 100Bitcoins and 1,000 Bitcoins, liquidated 95,000 Bitcoins valued at $4.56 billion in January, but turned bullish in February, together buying 117,000 Bitcoins (valued at ~$5.61 billion) since the beginning of this month:
“Important to note is how the supply changes for the Dolphin/Shark class (purple) and Whale/Humpback class (green) are mirrored in volume and shape. Where one class sees increasing volume, the other sees decreasing volume (and vice-versa).”
Addresses holdings 10 Bitcoins to 100 Bitcoins, referred to as “Octopus” and “Fish”, respectively, have been diluting their holdings since November 2020, liquidating over 128,000 Bitcoins (valued at $6.14 billion) in just four months. The 20% drop in Bitcoin this week paved way for huge activity by whales, but was outclassed by a smart whale who booked $156 million in profits before the decline started on Monday.
Worries over further decline may have faded as a recent research report from trading platform CrossTower states that institutional purchases will continue to keep Bitcoin over $50,000 in the months ahead.