Key points:
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Bitcoin speculators join whales in sending BTC to exchanges, with price then dipping below $112,000.
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Analysis warns that continued whale selling could spark a deeper, longer BTC price correction.
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Exchange order-book activity shows large-scale market exiting, but Bitcoin is attempting to reclaim $114,000.
Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers are selling across the board as BTC price action dips below $112,000, data suggests.
Numbers from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant show both newer investors and whales sending coins to exchanges.
Bitcoin whales, short-term holders hit exchanges
Bitcoin hitting new three-week lows Sunday has done nothing to steady hodlers’ nerves, and exchange flows show a rush for the exit.
CryptoQuant reveals that the amount sent to exchanges at a loss by short-term holders (STHs) in 24 hours passed 40,000 BTC on Aug. 1.
This was the most since July 15, with contributing analyst J. A. Maartunn describing STHs as “bleeding BTC.”
Aug. 1 saw a considerable spike in overall exchange activity, with CryptoQuant putting the day’s overall tally as a net inflow of 16,417 BTC.
“Conversely, the Exchange Whale Ratio indicator rose to levels exceeding 0.70 meaning that most of these deposits were from whales,” fellow contributor Arab Chain noted in a “Quicktake” blog post Saturday.
“When large deposits coincide with whales dominating these deposits, the market typically enters a phase of selling pressure and rapid decline. If whales continue to deposit Bitcoin to exchanges at the same pace, further pressure on the Bitcoin price is expected.”
The latest spike in exchange inflows compounds a trend in place since early July, when BTC/USD broke through $110,000 for the first time.
“Since early July, the monthly average of BTC inflows to Binance has been steadily rising again. Daily inflows have increased from around 5 300 BTC to 7 000 BTC today, marking a consistent uptick over the past month,” a further “Quicktake” post from contributor Darkfost commented.
“While this rise isn’t particularly sharp yet, it ends a prolonged downtrend, which had been in place since March, suggesting a shift in investor behavior.”
Trader: Weekend BTC price action unusual
As Cointelegraph reported, the sell-off and de-risking event extended beyond private investors to the institutional sphere.
Related: Bearish Arthur Hayes says Bitcoin could retrace to $100K on macro headwinds
Outflows from the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) totaled $812 million for Aug. 1, the second-highest daily drawdown on record.
Analyzing exchange order-book composition, popular trader and analyst Skew spied a large-volume market participant attempting to exit.
“Very sizeable quoting like this on a weekend spells out that a very large player needed to bail out of risk before Sunday – next week,” he told X followers Saturday amid “not your average weekend price action.”
“Since weekends are often more illiquid and have wider spreads, this means a desk would have to quote sufficient liquidity to facilitate a large client selling off that risk without causing the market to slip.”
BTC/USD circled $114,000 at the time of writing, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, up 1.3% on the day.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
