As the Bitcoin price continues on an upward trajectory that has sent it toward new all-time highs, breaking above $73,000 this week. With this increase, the vast majority of BTC holders are currently seeing a profit, and large whales are taking advantage of this to cash out some profit.
Large Bitcoin Whales Sell-Off Coins
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a chart that showed that large Bitcoin whales were selling off some of their coins. These large whales are those that hold at least 1,000 BTC in their wallet, which means on the lower end, these whales are holding at least $73 million worth of Bitcoin on their balances.
As the chart shows, there has been a decline in the total number of BTC held by these large wallets and this signifies that they have been selling their coins. After the price first ran toward its 2021 all-time high of $69,000, these whales began reducing their allocation.
The selling began in the month of February and has continued on into the month of March. Over this time, their total balances have reduced, leading to a decrease in the number of wallets that hold more than 1,000 BTC.
As of February, there were around 2,150 wallets holding more than 1,000 BTC. However, in March, this figure has dropped toward 2,040 as the whales shave off their balances to secure some profit during the rally.
Impact Of Whale Selling On BTC Price
Given the size of these wallets, a decision to sell from them can have a notable impact on the BTC price. This is because they are able to dump a large amount of supply on the market in a short time and if there is not enough demand to soak it up, then it leads to a crash in the price.
The whale selling could be behind the flash dips that have plagued Bitcoin as it has surged to new all-time highs. One example of this was on Tuesday, March 12, when the price of Bitcoin touched $73,000. What followed was a flash crash that sent the price toward $68,000 before it recovered.
So, while the whales dumping their holdings could have an adverse effect on the price, the performance of BTC in response to this flash crash shows that there is enough demand to meet this supply. In the case of Tuesday, the price would recover quickly to reach a new all-time high of $73,600.
At this time of this writing, the BTC price is still maintaining its hold on $73,000 with a 7-day increase of 10.49%.
