Very large investors, or whales, who own 10,000 bitcoins or more are currently the only ones buying the largest cryptocurrency as prices plummet.
Every other group of holders is hitting the sell button, according to network data.
This divergence is highlighted by Glassnode’s wallet cohort accumulation trend score, which measures the relative behavior of different entity sizes based on both the balance and the number of bitcoins acquired in the last 15 days. Scores closer to 1 indicate buy, while values closer to 0 indicate sell.
According to Glassnode data, the largest whales are in a “light accumulation” phase and have maintained a neutral to slightly positive equilibrium trend since bitcoin fell to $80,000 in late November. During this period, the price has largely consolidated, trading within a range of $80,000 to $97,000 until the end of January.
Bitcoin is now trading near $78,000, according to data from CoinDesk.
In contrast, all smaller cohorts are net sellers, particularly retail holders with less than 10 BTC. This group has been in persistent selling for over a month, reflecting the continued decline and risk aversion among smaller players.
At the same time, the number of unique entities holding at least 1,000 BTC has increased from 1,207 in October to 1,303.
Since bitcoin’s all-time high in October, the growth in this cohort suggests that large holders have been buying into the correction. Whales holding at least 1,000 BTC have returned to December 2024 highs, reinforcing the view that large players are absorbing supply while smaller holders continue to exit.
