Crypto Markets Slide Following Bitcoin Whale’s Sales and ETF Outflows

Crypto prices fell Monday, pressured by significant Bitcoin (BTC) sales on Sunday that briefly pushed BTC below $111,000, halted ETH’s rally after a fresh all-time high, and wiped out hundreds of millions in leveraged long positions.

Altcoins felt the pressure as XRP (XRP) dropped 2.4% to $2.96, while BNB (BNB) lost 0.6% to $864, and Solana (SOL) fell 4.9% to $197.

The total crypto market capitalization fell by 2.2% to $3.96 trillion, per CoinGecko. CoinGlass data shows $860 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with Ethereum accounting for more than $308 million, while Bitcoin accounted for $283 million.

ETF Flows and Derivatives

Spot inflows into Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have slowed, with big outflows last week.

Spot BTC ETFs recorded $1.17 billion in withdrawals, the second-largest weekly outflow in the products’ history, while spot ETH ETFs shed $237.7 million, marking the third-largest weekly drop on record, according to data from SoSoValue.

Sunday’s flash crash briefly pushed Bitcoin below $111,000, wiping out more than $150 million in long positions in one of the largest liquidation events since December 2024, analytics firm Glassnode said today in an X post.

The selloff was exacerbated by large trades on Unit, a decentralized spot platform on Hyperliquid, where an unknown whale sold more than 19,660 BTC ($2.2 billion) and purchased 455,672 ETH over four days, pushing 24-hour spot volumes to a record $3.2 billion, reportedly surpassing combined volumes on Coinbase and Bybit.

All Bitcoin cohorts “have now decisively moved into distribution,” Glassnode analysts added, noting that the uniformity across cohorts “highlights broad sell-side pressure emerging in the market.”

Meanwhile, Ethereum hit a new all-time high of $4,946 before sliding back to $4,631. With ETH reaching a fresh peak, Glassnode says the MVRV ratio has climbed to 2.15, meaning investors hold, on average, over ~2.15x unrealized gains.

“This level mirrors prior market structures seen in March 2024 and December 2020, both of which preceded periods of elevated volatility and profit-taking,” the analysts noted.

Ethereum’s recent rally coincided with a buying spree from Tom Lee’s BitMine, which spent $800 million last week accumulating more of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.

In a Monday press release, BitMine said it now holds over 1.7 million ETH, 192 BTC, and $562 million in unencumbered cash. Meanwhile, Saylor’s Strategy continued adding to its Bitcoin stash, acquiring 3,081 BTC to bring total reserves to 632,457 BTC.

Rate Cut Hopes

At the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Aug. 22, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a September rate reduction, referring to a weakening labor market and rising inflation risks.

After Powell’s remarks, analysts at Keyrock noted that prediction markets now project roughly an 80% chance of a 25-basis-point cut in September.

At the same time, a larger 50-basis-point reduction is seen as very unlikely at around 4%, suggesting that markets are still leaning toward Fed easing, but at a slow pace.