The choppy consolidation in bitcoin’s price action has many market players worried. However, certain holders of the world’s largest crypto asset are seemingly increasing their holdings.
In fact, bitcoin whales, particularly those holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC, have significantly increased their holdings.
Bitcoin Accumulation
Over the past six weeks, this cohort of whales has accumulated an additional 94.7K BTC, according to the latest findings by Santiment. This surge in accumulation occurs amid a period of heightened price uncertainty that has led many traders to exit the crypto market.
While retail and smaller investors may be shaken by the volatility, these key stakeholders are taking advantage of the downturn to strengthen their positions, potentially signaling a bullish outlook among those with significant market influence, as per the crypto analytic platform.
After bitcoin reached its all-time high in March, the market entered a prolonged phase of supply distribution involving wallets of different sizes. During the lead-up to this peak, on-chain intelligence platform Glassnode found that Long-Term Holders (LTH) had largely divested.
Recently, however, they have reverted to holding, with an additional 374,000 BTC moving into LTH status in the last three months. This was speculated as a sign that investors’ preference for holding their BTC now outweighs the pressures to spend them, despite uncertainty.
Currently, bitcoin is trading near $61,000 after surging by 4% over the past 24 hours. Experts believe that BTC’s major sell-offs are potentially over.
“Forced Selling Behind Us?”
In an August 19 interview with CNBC, Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, highlighted the seasonal patterns that bitcoin tends to follow post-halving. He noted that with the recent wave of forced selling now behind us, BTC is entering a period that typically poses challenges for its price performance.
Historically, bitcoin has struggled in the one to three months following a halving event, which in this cycle occurred in April. Sigel’s observations suggest that while the immediate pressures on BTC have eased, the market could still face headwinds as it continues to navigate this traditionally difficult phase.
