Bitcoin (BTC) whale buying and selling in 2023 is mostly by speculative investors, new data reveals.
In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, The Week On-Chain, analytics firm Glassnode showed that contrary to popular belief, opportunistic entities are the most active whales.
The birth of the Bitcoin “short-term holder” whale
Since BTC’s price action returned to $30,000, a shift has occurred among Bitcoin traders.
As Glassnode points out, so-called short-term holders (STH) — investors who hold coins for a maximum of 155 days — have become significantly more common.
As it turns out, the groups of investors with the largest volume, the whales, also consist of a large number of STHs.
“Holders’ short-term dominance of foreign exchange inflows has exploded to 82%, which is now drastically above the long-term range over the past five years (typically 55% to 65%),” it said.
“From this, we can make a case that most of the recent trading activity is driven by active Whales within the 2023 market (and thus classified as STH).
Interest in trading short-term moves in BTC/USD was already evident before May. Since the FTX breakup at the end of 2022, speculators have been increasingly eager to capture both the upside and downside volatility.
Results have been mixed – realized profits and losses have routinely increased in line with volatile price movements.
“If we look at the profit/loss rate realized by the volume of short-term holders flowing into the stock market, it becomes clear that these younger investors are trading local market conditions,” Glassnode continued.
“Each rally and correction since the aftermath of FTX has seen a 10k+ BTC increase in STH gain or loss, respectively.”
Whales show “increased entry bias” on exchanges
Closer to the present, whales have increased exchange activity, in July at one point accounting for 41% of total flows.
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“Whale Network Analysis of Exchanges can be used as an indicator of their impact on the balance of supply and demand,” The Week On-Chain commented on the topic.
“Whale exchange net flows have tended to fluctuate between ± 5k BTC/day over the past five years. However, throughout June and July of this year, whale inflows have maintained a high inflow bias of between 4.0k to 6.5k BTC/day.
As Cointelegraph reported, whales aren’t the only forces at work when it comes to BTC sales.
Mining Pool Poolin hit the headlines with its transactions destined for Binance, while potentially profit-protecting miners also contributed to the selling activity.
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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.
