The crypto markets are currently seen as a good opportunity to pile up some and wait till the situation stabilizes. Many influencers and analysts believe that the current bearish market is a bear trap spread to hoard assets left behind by weak hands, mainly by whales!
Have the bears been netted by whales as their accumulation slowly peaks?
Do whales and institutions know more than retailers?
What is forcing them to deposit more even though their previous holdings have suffered a significant loss?
Let us dig more!
Who are the whales?
A cryptocurrency whale or crypto whale or just a ‘whale’ refers to an individual or an entity that has a large amount of assets. They have a substantial portion of the circulating supply and have enormous potential to manipulate price variations. Some examples include, around 15.36% of the top 100 BTC wallets that hold over 2 million BTC out of 19 million. While Dogecoin whales collectively hold about 52% or 29.5 billion DOGE.
These large holdings are closely monitored by experts and tracked by on-chain platforms as they have the potential to pump or dump price. Most whales remain dormant, but if a whale makes a transaction, it is publicly announced. Whales always wait for the right opportunity, especially a market crash to accumulate more. Bear markets accumulate more in some cases.
Also read: Is The Government Aiming To Destroy The Crypto Space With CBDCs And Stablecoins In The Near Future?
What are the whales collecting now?
It should be noted that each crypto asset has its own whale and keeps accumulating the respective asset during each dip. However, the current scenario is a bit different as whales have accumulated a large amount of other assets.
bitcoin whale
Bitcoin whales are accumulating more bitcoins every fall. BTC whales started accumulating in the second half of 2020 and sold out when the asset hit a high of $64,000. Since then, the accumulation started a descending trend until the recent spike. In a very unusual event, whale accumulation increased from about 3.5 million to 3.8 million.
This accumulation was caused by a price drop of less than $18,000 in recent days. These whale addresses hold between 1000 and 10,000 BTC in BTC. The spike in whale holdings was followed by a notable price recovery as bitcoin was firmly above $20,000 at press time.
However, the highest level of whales was closer to 4 million. If accumulations gradually return to these levels, fears of a massive drop in BTC price could loom. And if the asset drops 50% as before, the price could drop below $10,000.
what ethereum whales are buying
Ethereum whales, on the other hand, have been depositing ETH as well as transferring their capital to several DeFi and NFT tokens. According to an analytical platform, the top 100 Ethereum whales have now shifted their focus to the Seller Network. Considering the whale holdings of the top 2000 whales, the Shiba INU remains the most-held token at over $577 million, followed by the Shib Doge.
Along with these tokens, ETH whales also have JasmyCoin (JASMY), Bancor (BNT), Uniswap (UNI), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Polygon (MATIC) and PAXG. Currently the most traded token is Polygon, while the most held token is Decentraland (MANA). On the other hand, the largest coin position by dollar remains SHIB.
It is also observed that ETH whales are currently selling more than buying and hence the fear index of whales is 26.
Whales on other chains!
Whales on BinanceSmartChain, Fantom, Polygon and Avalanche have also been on the rise in recent times. Whales on BSC have been heavily trading Galaxy Heros Coin (GHC) in recent days while holding a massive Pancakeswap (CAKE) token. However, the highest holding in terms of dollar value is the Bitcoin BEP 2 (BTCB) token.
Similarly, whales on the Phantom Chain trade heavily on the Paintbrush token, which holds the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin and the same coin holds the largest token position by dollar value.
Polygons come in the chain, the most traded in the Blocknet (Block) top 100 whales. Tokens widely held by these whales are IF Minerem (MNEP) and the largest position in dollar value is MAI (Mi Matic). Considering the avalanche whale, the most traded token is StepApp (FitFi) and the widely held token and the largest dollar value token is USD Coin (USDC).
ALSO READ: Celsius Network – Ethereum Crisis Isn’t Over, Protocol Might Run It Out of Collateral: Report
What will whales do in the coming days?
Considering the previous trend, it is quite clear that some whales are falling into FUD or forming FUD. It can also be said that the reason for the sudden collapse in May 2021 was whales. Since then, whales have been isolated from large accumulations. Therefore, this could be a sign that the BTC price has not yet reached its bottom, as the whales themselves accumulate during the downtrend.
In the recent times, the crypto markets have been exposed to certain incidents that have severely hampered their growth. Beginning with the LUNA-UST crash, followed by the Celsius network halving, later the 3AC crisis and some liquidity crises at some exchanges. The markets have always reacted negatively to all situations. Also, now that 3ACs have reportedly been ordered to be phased out, yet another market crash could be fast approaching.
This can happen when whales can jump into action to collect the holdings left by vulnerable hands regardless of chains. By doing so, they may have a large majority of tokens in circulation that is enough to manipulate price actions and movements quickly.