Long-time Bitcoin holders have hit the brakes on selling their large holdings for the primary time in six months, while Ether whales have accelerated their accumulation of the digital asset.
Wallets that held Bitcoin (BTC) for a minimum of 155 days reduced their positions from 14.8 million coins in mid-July to 14.3 million in December. However, crypto investor and entrepreneur Ted Pillows identified in an X post on Monday that the selloff has eased.
“Long-term holders have stopped selling Bitcoin for the primary time since July 2025. Things are looking good for a recovery rally here,” he said.
Source: Ted Pillows
In general, large investors and whales are considered market movers, and their trades can influence market behavior, liquidity, and investor psychology.
Ether whales are stacking more tokens
At the identical time, Ether whales have been increasing their holdings over the past week. Citing CryptoQuant data, analysts at crypto investor newsletter Milk Road said large holders have added around 120,000 Ether (ETH) since December 26.
“Addresses with greater than 1,000 ETH now control around 70% of the availability, a share that has been increasing since late 2024. If this behavior continues, the market may not fully price in where smart money Ethereum expects to go next,” they said.
Garrett Jin, former CEO of now-defunct crypto exchange BitForex, also predicted that more inflows will likely flow into Bitcoin and Ether as investors move away from silver, palladium and platinum, which have been on the rise recently.
“The metals short squeeze is over as expected. Capital is beginning to flow into cryptocurrencies,” he said.
Traders cautious after FUD on Christmas weekend
Bitcoin has traded between $86,744 and $90,064 over the past seven days. Analysts at crypto market intelligence platform Santiment said an increase in fear, uncertainty and doubt occurred concurrently with the rise in prices around Christmas, as markets often move in the wrong way of trader sentiment.
“After the top of the Christmas weekend, Bitcoin rose back above $90,000 after which fell below $87,000,” analysts at Santiment said, adding: “The rise got here while FUD got very high as usual. Now that prices have fallen again, traders are cautious again.”
The US results in sell-offs
Some selling pressure might be resulting from US traders exiting the market. Coinglass's Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index remained in negative territory. The index measures the worth difference between Bitcoin traded on the Coinbase crypto exchange and the worldwide market average.
Source: Coinglass
According to its description, when the index is negative, it typically reflects selling pressure within the US market, declining investor risk appetite and increasing risk aversion.
