For much of this month, bitcoin has been trading around $60,000. That’s monotonous.
What’s interesting is a growing divide in coin ownership that could shape what happens next.
Data from Santiment shows that the number of wallets holding less than 0.1 BTC, a level typically associated with retail investors, has increased 2.5% since the largest cryptocurrency hit a record high in October. The growth has brought the supply share of so-called shrimp to its highest level since mid-2024.
In practice, however, it is the large holders known as whales and sharks who tend to set the tone in the direction of prices. Those investors, with portfolios containing between 10 and 10,000 BTC, went in the opposite direction, falling about 0.8%.
It’s the type of split that tends to produce choppy, frustrating price action rather than clear trends.
Retail provides a floor and can provide short-term momentum. Rallies that stick require bigger players who are willing to buy whatever is offered.
The divergence is especially notable because the picture looked different just a few weeks ago.
After Bitcoin sank toward $60,000 on February 5 (a drop of more than 50% from its October peak), Glassnode’s cumulative trend score rose to 0.68, the strongest overall reading since late November, as CoinDesk reported earlier in the month.
Glassnode’s metric measures the relative strength of accumulation in different wallet sizes taking into account both the size of the entity and the amount of BTC accumulated in the last 15 days. A score closer to 1 indicates accumulation, while a score closer to 0 indicates distribution.
During the flash, the 10-100 BTC cohort was the most aggressive dip buyer, and the data suggested the market was moving from capitulation to something more synchronized.
Santiment’s broader lens complicates that reading. Its 10-10,000 BTC band captures a much broader portion of large holders than Glassnode’s dip-buying cohort, and across that range, net positioning since October remains negative.
One way to reconcile the two positions: Medium-sized portfolios may have genuinely panic-bought, while larger holders continued to spread out on each rally, dragging the aggregate number down.
It’s important because bitcoin doesn’t need retail to appear. Retail is here.
What you need is for the distribution from large portfolios to stop, or better yet, reverse. Without that, every rally risks being embraced by the same cohort that needs to provide structural demand to be successful.
The shrimp are doing their part. They are waiting for the whales to join.
