Despite the recent Bitcoin crash to sub-$20,000 and the subsequent failure of crypto-affiliated lender Silicon Valley Bank pinning markets down, big BTC investors seem unwavering in their accumulation.
On Thursday, Bitcoin witnessed its largest red day since last November before dropping as low as $19,600 on Friday. In the past seven days, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization has lost over 8% exceeding Ether’s losses which stood at 6.16% in the same period at press time.
Nonetheless, the recent plunge has created a “buy the dip” moment for some big investors, who, according to onchain data, have been scooping BTC at record levels. In a March 11 post, on-chain analytics firm Santiment highlighted this development, noting that in the past week, addresses holding 10BTC to 10,000 BTC bought 40,557 BTC worth about $821.5M.
“Bitcoin sharks & whales don’t appear to be to blame for crypto’s rough week. In fact, addresses holding 10 to 10k $BTC have collectively accumulated $821.5M back during this mid-sized crash,” the firm wrote.
This behaviour reflects a different picture from what has been witnessed, especially for smaller whales who have distributed their holdings at favourable moments. However, whales with over 10,000 bitcoins have stayed rather stable, probably because their magnitude restricts them from swiftly adapting to shifting market trends. Data shows this group has grown its holdings by roughly 7% since the November 2021 BTC peak.
The actions of whales in the crypto market can offer valuable insight into where prices are headed. Whales are notorious for buying when they think the market has dipped and selling at premium prices. Their behaviour can often lead to spikes, so keeping an eye on their behaviour can help predict market direction.
Elsewhere, crypto data analytics firm IntoTheBlock noted that, cumulatively, BTC buyers appeared to have a sweet spot just below $20k, with a whopping 474k BTC ($9.5B) purchased at $19k.
“This concentrated buying zone indicates that buyers historically step up when prices hover near the $20k psychological barrier. Will we see a repeat of this pattern?” the firm said in a March 10 tweet.
Additionally, the firm noted that addresses holding between 0.1 and 1 BTC have been the fastest-growing segment in the past month, while those between 0.0001 and 100 BTC account for over 40% of the BTC supply.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $21,503, up 4.26% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.