Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple whales are retreating: Here's what it means

Along with a lackluster market, there has been a significant decline in whale activity across most major cryptoassets.

According to Santiment’s latest analysis, bitcoin and ethereum are experiencing notable drops in transactions over $100,000.

Whale activity plummets

During the highly active period from March 13 to March 19, bitcoin recorded 115.1 thousand transactions valued at over $100 thousand each, reflecting intense activity by large holders.

However, between August 21 and August 27, this figure had almost halved to just 60,200 transactions, indicating a significant slowdown. ethereum mirrored this trend, with its whale transactions falling from 115,100 to just 31,800 over the same period.

Similar trends are also seen in other major assets such as XRP, Toncoin, and Cardano.

While this reduction in high-value transactions may seem worrying at first glance, Santiment noted that a decline in whale activity does not inherently imply a bearish outlook. In fact, whale behavior often aligns with periods of heightened market volatility, where large players move assets to capitalize on rapid price swings.

The current lower trading volumes could suggest a market consolidation phase or a temporary pause in volatility, rather than a precursor to a recession, according to the cryptocurrency analytics platform. x.com/santimentfeed/status/1830822357516329104″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener” data-wpel-link=”external”>tweet.

Furthermore, the data suggests that among the transactions that are still taking place, there is a pattern of accumulation by top addresses. Even in the face of reduced overall activity, this essentially indicates that whales may be strategically positioning themselves for future market moves.

Rather than signaling an exodus from the market, the quieter activity could reflect a more cautious and calculated approach, with whales accumulating assets in anticipation of potential price appreciation in the near term.

What awaits us in September?

QCP Capital's latest analysis reveals that bitcoin closed August down 8.6%, struggling to recover from the “BOJ crash” earlier in the month and failing to break above the 65,000 mark.

ethereum fared even worse, falling more than 22% over the same period, with alleged selling by Jump Trading exacerbating its decline.

Looking ahead, the historical trend for September is tilted downwards, with six of the last seven closing in the red and an average return of around 4.5%, which could see btc drop to $55,000 if the trend persists.

Despite the recent turbulence, the Singapore-based trading app expects the crypto asset to find strong support around $54,000, a level that had already sparked a rally in July before reaching $70,000. Meanwhile, this week’s economic data, including jobless claims and non-farm payrolls (NFP) reports, are unlikely to significantly impact cryptocurrency prices given the waning influence of macroeconomic data on the market.

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