Thousands—literally thousands—of curses rain down on them every single day. Many traders dream of a world free of these giants, blaming whales for all the market's woes. So, let's take a moment and imagine this ideal (utopian) market without whales and see what unfolds.
How would this perfect whale-free market look?
Let's use Binance as an example, where the average daily $BTC trading volume is around $18 billion. Typically, major players control between 40% to 70% of this volume, but let's assume a lower percentage to keep retail traders happy. Suppose $TRUMP coin did its magic, attracting even more retail participants. Confidently slicing off 40%, we're left with around $11 billion daily turnover, now exclusively shared among retail traders.
Considering approximately 900,000 active daily traders on Binance (an estimate, as exact figures remain elusive), each trader would average about $12,000 in daily trading volume. Of course, this is an average—some trade more actively, others less so—but the market now belongs solely to retail players. Seems perfect, right? But let's dive deeper to see how this would affect liquidity, volatility, and market dynamics.
What drives the price now?
Here we are, at our idealized market. Previously, a single whale could shift the price by 5%, but we've removed them entirely. Sounds a bit communist, but let's carry on.
So, what's driving price movements now? Just us—our emotions and behavior—because we're now the market-makers! Without big players artificially pushing prices, the only remaining drivers are mass sentiment and herd behavior. Fear-driven panic or greed-driven FOMO—these become the primary movers of the market.
How would the market change?
The market slows down: Prices would move gradually, influenced only by countless small traders.
No sudden pumps or dumps; instead, price action would either slowly stagnate or gently oscillate.
Large trades would struggle to execute, and significant volumes would start hanging, unable to be absorbed quickly.
Market dynamics would fade, with traders constantly awaiting fresh news to stimulate any meaningful activity.
What would this market lead to?
Shitcoins vanish: Without whales pumping weak projects, these coins would naturally die off.
Smaller exchanges shut down: Liquidity declines sharply without major players, competition intensifies, and only giants survive.
Market makers face hurdles: Reduced volatility makes profiting from spreads more challenging.
Fewer traders remain: The market becomes dull, hype disappears, and crowds seeking quick profits drift away.
Conclusion
So, how appealing is such a market to you? For me—not very. Reflecting upon it, whales are as integral to the market as we are. They have their role; we have ours. By entering the market, we've implicitly agreed to its rules.
We dream of becoming whales ourselves—to gain their influence, access insider information, and move prices. But what about whales? They don't dream of becoming us. They simply want to expand their wealth further and keep controlling the game. Like it or not, without whales, the market we love wouldn't exist.
Since we're all here by choice, I'll finish with a quote from perhaps the most famous whale today: "NO CRYING IN THE CASINO."
#MarketPullback #Whale.Alert #CryptoMarketWatch
