Bitcoin Whales Just Bought $3B in BTC: Why Analysts Still Warn of More Pain Ahead?

Whales bought $3 billion worth of BTC in the past week alone, while retail investors have been mostly selling.

Bitcoin’s major rally from under $65,000 to over $81,000 within a week or so changed the broader market sentiment from fear to greed, with analysts initially rushing to call the end of the bear phase.

However, its inability to push through the $81,000 resistance and the two rejections, alongside the Fed’s hawkish stance on Friday, added further doubt, both from a technical and a macro perspective. The good news is that whales have returned in full force.

$3B in BTC

Citing data from Santiment Intelligence, popular analyst Ali Martinez noted that these large market participants have accumulated roughly $3 billion worth of bitcoin in the past week alone. Adding more than 39,150 BTC in just seven days signals that this crucial cohort of investors continues to show interest in the primary cryptocurrency, alongside ETF buyers, who poured over $920 million into the funds in the past week.

In a separate post, Martinez doubled down on the whales’ growing activity, arguing that the recent rally was driven primarily by them. In contrast, retail investors have remained mostly on the sidelines or in the opposite corner, as further on-chain data suggests they have actually been selling.