Retail investors stepped back in after Bitcoin fell below $70,000, but on-chain data suggest larger holders may prolong the pullback if past behavior repeats, according to analytics firm Santiment.
Santiment reported that whale addresses — defined as wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC — “accumulated heavily” from Feb. 23 to Mar. 3, when Bitcoin traded roughly between $62,900 and $69,600. Once BTC climbed above $70,000 and spiked toward $74,000 this week, those same addresses began taking profits.
The firm says the whale cohort has sold about 66% of the coins they bought during that accumulation window since the mid-week move above $70,000 and the $74,000 peak. Meanwhile, retail holders, described as addresses with under 0.01 BTC, have been adding positions.
Santiment warned that when retail is buying while whales are selling, it often signals that the correction is not yet over. At the time of publication, CoinMarketCap showed Bitcoin trading near $67,984.
The price decline pushed the Crypto Fear & Greed Index down six points to a reading of 12, classified as “Extreme Fear.” Trader Michael van de Poppe of MN Trading Capital echoed the cautious outlook, saying Bitcoin could fall further if it fails to find support in the $67,000–$68,000 zone and that a retest of lower liquidity lows is possible before a meaningful rebound.
The pullback coincided with U.S.-based spot Bitcoin ETFs recording their largest single-day outflow since Feb. 12: about $348.9 million in net withdrawals across 11 ETF products, per Farside data.
Bitcoin previously dropped to about $60,000 on Feb. 6 during its decline from an October all-time high near $126,000, before recovering somewhat. Economist Timothy Peterson noted that $60,000 has historically acted as a bottom for Bitcoin and estimated roughly a 99.5% probability it will remain above that level for the time being.
This article is based on reporting and on-chain analysis; readers are encouraged to verify data independently and consider multiple sources before making investment decisions.