Bitcoin Whale Activity Nears 2025 Peak as Large Holders Buy the Dip

Data from blockchain intelligence platform Santiment shows that Bitcoin whale activity is poised to reach its highest weekly level of 2025. Increased whale accumulation coincides with BTC price falling under $90,000 for the first time in seven months.

Santiment’s report shows a significant increase in whale transactions, with over 102,000 transactions exceeding $100,000, and an additional 29,000 transactions over $1 million in BTC since October.

Bitcoin Whales Ramp Up Buying the Dip From Panic Sellers

The analytics firm wrote in an X post that bitcoin whales have gotten more active as prices declined for the sixth consecutive week. They highlighted that the running week has a “good chance” of becoming the most active whale week of the year, as these large wallets gradually transition from dumping to accumulating.

While some analysts pointed fingers at whales for the crypto market’s recent pullback, data from Glassnode indicate that large holders have been accumulating bitcoin since late October, with a noticeable uptick in buying action from wallets holding more than 1,000 BTC since Friday.

Speaking to crypto media outlet Cointelegraph, Pav Hundal, lead analyst at crypto trading platform Swyftx, said that he believes news cycles have been driving surges in whale activity over the past year, with a significant amount of trading linked to geopolitical events involving the U.S. government.

He also noted that BTC rallied on the back of chip giant Nvidia posting strong Q3 results, the effects of which trickled down to publicly listed bitcoin mining firms. Hundal suggested that both whales and retail investors interpreted this as a buy signal, as reflected in Swyftx’s order books, which were showing a record high buy-to-sell ratio during early trading hours, at 10 buys for every sell order (10:1), compared to the average rate of 3 buys for every sell (3:1).

“Investors are buying the dip,” he declared.

Bradley Duke, managing director and head of Bitwise Asset Management in Europe, echoed Hundal’s statements in a Wednesday X post, stating that while many investors were afflicted by “fear and panic”, the number of whales has “spiked up of late”. Bitwise has noticed that large holders are “keeping a level head” and buying bitcoin at discounted prices from panic sellers.

Meanwhile, Tushar Jain, co-founder and managing partner of crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital, wrote in an X post that he has identified a pattern of “systemic selling” during specific hours, which could be the consequence of forced liquidations. He speculated that this scale of forced selling may not continue for much longer.

Analysts Tom Lee and Matt Hougan Expect Bitcoin Price To Bottom This Week, Predicts New ATH Before Year-End

During an interview with CNBC on Monday, BitMine chairman Tom Lee and Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan predicted that bitcoin’s price could bottom out as soon as this week.

Lee noted that the crypto market is still reeling in the aftermath of the $19 billion liquidation event on October 10, as traders are nervous about whether the Federal Reserve will cut its headline interest rate on the U.S. dollar in December. While this tension has created downside pressure, he thinks there are signs of exhaustion, expecting the price to bottom sometime this week.

He also predicted that bitcoin would regain all the lost ground and register another new all-time high before the year-end, backed by a rally in the stock market.

Hougan agreed that a bottom is on the horizon, while adding that the current price levels present a “generational opportunity” to buy bitcoin and are a “gift for long-term investors.” He believes the market’s pain to have been caused by traders reacting nervously to the U.S. economic numbers, artificial intelligence valuations, and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Hougan likened bitcoin to a canary in the coal mine, as it identified there was some risk in the market, and was the first to suffer a price correction before other crypto assets. He suggested that the alpha crypto could be the first to bottom, and is getting very close to that inflection point.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $91,830 – up 0.43% in 24 hours.

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