After Bitcoin surged to $117,000 over the weekend, the rally abruptly halted and has since retreated to around $112,000. Market analysts generally believe that 'large funds' have quietly exited Bitcoin recently, turning their bets toward Ethereum, and this powerful undercurrent is reshaping the funding landscape of the cryptocurrency market.
According to CoinGecko's market quotes, Bitcoin is currently trading at $112,763, with a daily decline of 2.4%, marking a dramatic reversal compared to its aggressive surge past $117,000 early Saturday morning.
At that time, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a speech at the Jackson Hole global central banking conference, laying the groundwork for a rate cut in September, which briefly stimulated Bitcoin's surge but failed to sustain subsequent trends.
Kronos Research's investment chief Vincent Liu stated:
Powell's remarks led to a surge, more of a short-term lift under thin liquidity rather than driven by long-term market conviction. As leverage is cleaned out and new themes are lacking, the market naturally cools off.
More critically, the movements of whales are key. According to on-chain data circulated on the community platform X, a whale wallet continuously sold over 24,000 Bitcoins between August 16 and 24, becoming a focal point in the market.
WhaleWire CEO Jacob King pointed out:
Once whales offload, the panic effect amplifies immediately, and the ensuing follow-the-leader sell-off exacerbates the decline.
More notably, the selling funds have not exited the market but have flowed into Ethereum: over $2 billion has been invested in spot purchases, with $1.3 billion directly allocated to staking.
Nevertheless, Vincent Liu also cautions that the downturn should not be attributed to a single wallet, 'this is more likely the result of exchanges holding large amounts of funds or multiple whales,' he said, 'such large-scale transactions usually involve institutional participants or coordinated actions.'
On-chain analysis firm Lookonchain also disclosed that a whale, originally holding over 100,000 Bitcoins, has recently sold some holdings and turned around to purchase 62,900 Ethereum, establishing a long position of over 135,000 Ethereum in the derivatives market.
ETF fund flows also reflect this trend. Bitcoin spot ETFs performed weakly in August, with some funds even recording net outflows; in contrast, Ethereum ETFs saw significant inflows, indicating a clear shift in preference among institutional investors.
Vincent Liu expects: 'If Ethereum ETFs are approved to open staking functions, it will undoubtedly reignite the staking craze, and Ethereum is likely to become the main character in the latter half of the bull market.'
LVRG Research's Nick Ruck also stated that high-net-worth investors have begun to sell Bitcoin and instead increase their positions in Ethereum, betting that the latter holds more upside potential with corporate buying support.
Data shows that Bitcoin's market share has dropped from 61% at the beginning of the month to 57.94%, indicating a clear shift of market funds toward competing coins.
Looking ahead, Vincent Liu reminds that the U.S. initial jobless claims data, closely watched by traders, is about to be released, and market volatility is expected to intensify.
