While large Bitcoin holders remain confident and continue to accumulate the asset, small retail investors are losing BTC amid prolonged consolidation of the asset below the $100,000 price level, according to data from the crypto analytics platform Santiment.
The contrasting behavior of Bitcoin whales and retail investors often signals that Bitcoin may be moving towards a new uptrend, Santiment reported on May 6.
Smaller Bitcoin players are showing coldness
"When large wallets gradually accumulate alongside panic selling/retail sell-offs out of boredom, it typically serves as a strong long-term sign that prices are waiting for their moment before another breakout," reports Santiment.
Bitcoin wallet owners with balances between 10 and 10,000 BTC have accumulated a total of 81,338 BTC over the past six weeks since March 26.
This represents an increase of 0.61% in the total asset volume of the cohort. Santiment stated that this could be a sign of a potential retest of the psychological price level of $100,000 in the near future. "As events unfold in May, key Bitcoin stakeholders are generally moving in the right direction if you hope for BTC valued at $100,000 in the near future," said Santiment.
However, Bitcoin wallets with less than 0.1 BTC sold around 290 bitcoins during the same period. Since March 26, Bitcoin has traded between $76,273 and $97,210, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on February 1 after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his tariffs, and has yet to recover that price level. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $99,300.
Meanwhile, according to Farside, the number of holders of spot bitcoin ETFs has increased during the same period: as of March 26, the total inflow into spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. amounted to $4.41 billion.
Bitcoin dominance continues to rise
The cryptocurrency market as a whole still remains focused around Bitcoin. Its dominance reached 65% on May 6, the highest level since January 2021, according to TradingView data.
At the time of publication, the indicator stands at 65.19%. Meanwhile, the CoinMarketCap altcoin season index still indicates 'Bitcoin Season', suggesting that the market is favoring bitcoins over altcoins.
Some analysts predict new all-time highs by the end of June, with Bitfinex analysts recently stating that Bitcoin needs to remain above the $95,000 mark to rise and retest its all-time high, or else it faces an even deeper correction.