Large Bitcoin holders have reduced their BTC positions to the lowest level since May 2025 as the cryptocurrency slid to the $65,000 range today.

Data from the on-chain analytics platform Santiment shows that major wallets sold Bitcoin aggressively during the recent downturn, signaling growing caution among institutional investors.

On February 6th, Santiment revealed that wallets with 10 to 10,000 BTC currently hold only 68.04% of all existing Bitcoin, representing a new 9-month low. Over 80,000 BTC were dumped into the open market over the last 8 days. This happened during the same period when Bitcoin fell from nearly $90,000 to today’s price.

As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading for about $65,933 and has fallen by approximately 8% in the last day, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Whales Dumping While Retail Investors Buy

Santiment data showed that whales continue to reduce their exposure to the market, while retail buyers increase their investment positions.

“This combination of selling from key participants and buying from retail investors is what historically creates bear cycles,” said Santiment’s analysts in their market update. Santiment noted that “shrimp wallets,” those who hold less than 0.1 BTC, have reached a 20-month high.

Despite increasing volatility and uncertainty in global markets, retail buyers continued to accumulate since the second half of 2024.

Also Read | Bitcoin (BTC) Shock: Strategy’s $12.4 Billion Loss Signals Risk 

Market Sentiment Becomes Very Bearish

In addition to the whales’ sell-off, overall market sentiment has become sharply bearish. On Wednesday, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju posted on X that “every Bitcoin analyst is now bearish.”

The Crypto Fear & Greed index, which measures investor sentiment, also dropped to 9 out of 100. A value of 9 is extremely low, representing only the highest levels of fear seen in the cryptocurrency space since mid-2022 during the Terra collapse.

The weakness in Bitcoin comes after a massive rally in the fourth quarter of 2024, when it surpassed $100,000 for the first time after Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory in November 2024. 

Source: Alternative.me

The Effect on Bitcoin Price

Distribution by whale investors can put sustained downward pressure on the BTC price. However, buying activity and accumulation tend to precede recoveries in its price.

Data from Binance indicates that significant demand exists for Bitcoin at lower price ranges. An order book analysis published by market analyst Ted Pillows on X indicated that approximately $273 million in BTC buy orders exist in the $60,000 to $68,000 range.

He stated that this is a “high-demand area.” Hence, it could indicate that institutional traders may be looking to defend those price levels if further selling continues.

Also Read | IBIT Crashes 48% as Bitcoin Bloodbath Deepens