Whales are making ‘massive transactions;’ what does it mean for BTC traders

Bull or bear market? That’s the question on many investors’ lips as Ukraine tries to resist Russia’s invasion. However, Bitcoin traders need to look at what different actors are doing right now while maintaining a cautious outlook.

Between the devil and the deep sea

Data from Santiment showed that Bitcoin whales were busy churning up the waters with high-value transactions as the king coin hit the bottom of its dip, at around $34,700. What’s more, we need to look at recent history, because transactions over $100,000 and $1 million last hit a peak around 24 January, when prices bottomed before.

Noting that the frenzy of transactions after 24 January was followed by a 15% rally the next week, whales are perhaps expecting a similar jump in price soon.

? As #Bitcoin prices bottomed out at $34.7k with Thursday’s war news, whales have made some MASSIVE transactions. This has been the largest amount of both $100k+ and $1m+ $BTC transactions since Jan. 24th, when prices jumped +15% the week following. ?https://t.co/gpyqFS9UGi pic.twitter.com/laeSxeHUXV

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 25, 2022

That said, exchange inflows and outflows showed how this latest bottoming out in price was different from the one in late January. Interestingly, 1 February saw outflows of more than 90,000 BTC. However, the latest dip in price did not lead to significant inflows or outflows. One theory is that traders are playing things close to the chest due to the ongoing war, and resisting the urge to panic sell.

Source: Santiment

Expert traders and analysts also seem to think this is a good idea. Ryan Selkis of Messari made it clear that he had no plans to sell his Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Lark Davis and Raoul Pal both advised traders to come up with a long-term plan and stick to it. Finally, FOMO was an absolute no-no.

Adding to that, there’s plenty of reason to be cautious. Bitcoin’s recent price action shows that the asset is becoming more volatile, further exacerbated by world events.

Things to consider over the weekend:#Bitcoin is trading more like equity and not a safe-haven$BTC volatility picking up#Bitcoin making a comeback while $GLD takes a hit pic.twitter.com/x8uzsPO7tO

— ??????????? (@Negentropic_) February 25, 2022

Time to speed things up

Santiment data revealed that Bitcoin’s velocity saw a sharp uptick on 22 February, indicating a huge rise in activity as Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, however, the king coin’s velocity has fallen but is still largely in line with previous velocity rates.

At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $39,069.43, having risen by 1.51% in the last 24 hours.

Source: Santiment