BTC Price Drops Below Major Support Level – Are Whales Taking Profits?

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to decisively recover $98,000 and potentially head towards $100,000, the price of BTC fell in the last few hours to below $95,000.

This adverse move came amid reports that major bitcoin whales have deposited significant amounts of the asset into Binance, potentially for some profit. However, there is also good news.

Selling whales?

Large crypto investors, known as whales, are critical to underlying asset price movements due to their ability to buy or unload substantial amounts in a short time. As such, several on-chain analytics platforms are watching many of its stocks to potentially predict a notable price move in either direction, depending on whether they buy or sell.

Lookonchain described a recent worrying move by a “giant” whale that had amassed 11,657 BTC (valued at over $780 million) from March 14 to October 31 at an average price of $66,953. With the cryptocurrency rising around 50% from its average entry price, the anonymous whale deposited 1,000 BTC into Binance today, potentially with the intention of selling and making some profits.

A giant whale deposited 1000 $BTC($97.5 million) a #Binance in the last 4 hours!

This whale has accumulated 11,657 $BTC($780.5 million) from #Binance between March 14 and October 31 at an average price of $66,953.https://t.co/WYPGmoZcB0 pic.twitter.com/S2BCAyYVn2

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 2, 2024

In the following hours, the price of BTC fell from over $98,000 to below $95,000 before recovering slightly to just above the latter.

Despite its small bounce, the cryptocurrency is still trading below $96,175, which popular analyst Ali described as a significant level it needs to withstand for the asset to continue its trajectory towards $100,000 and beyond. This is because more than a million bitcoin addresses have accumulated more than 950,000 BTC at this average price, effectively making it a strong support.

As long as #Bitcoin $BTC stands above $96,175, the odds favor the bulls! pic.twitter.com/18097DlAPF

— Ali (@ali_charts) December 1, 2024

No need to panic, yet?

Although BTC has dropped below the crucial $96,175 line, Glassnode’s Rafael said there is no need to panic yet, at least according to the relative unrealized profit metric. When it goes above 0.9, it shows when the market is heating up due to the large number of investors sitting on paper gains. Historically, this number has resulted in immediate corrections in the asset’s price, as shown in the chart below.

Currently, however, the metric sits at 0.74, which is below the overheating levels seen in previous cycles. Consequently, Rafael concluded that “there is room to run.”

The relative unrealized benefit of #bitcoin long-term headlines currently at 0.74, well below the overheated levels seen in previous cycles – there is room to run.

Keeping a close eye as we approach 0.9 and beyond.https://t.co/1fFjXLgXJW pic.twitter.com/0jdQUHIyAX

— Rafael (@n3ocortex) December 1, 2024

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