Author: Biraajmaan Tamuly, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance
The number of whale transactions worth more than $100,000 in Bitcoin has fallen 48% since March 2024, while the price of Bitcoin has fallen 20% over the same period.
So, how do the actions of Bitcoin’s wealthiest investors affect the price, and how much BTC does each whale hold on average?
Bitcoin addresses holding 1,000+ BTC account for 40% of total supply
Data from data analysis platform Santiment shows that in the last week of August, BTC whale trading volume fell from a high of 115.1K between March 13 and March 19 to 60.2K.
Despite the decrease in whale activity over the past six months, the long-term accumulation of whale addresses remains relatively high.
Meanwhile, data from Intotheblock shows that Bitcoin addresses holding 1,000-10,000 BTC account for the largest share of the total Bitcoin supply, at 24.17%.
As shown in the chart below, addresses holding 10 to 100 BTC and 100 to 1,000 BTC also account for a large share of the supply, at 22.08% and 20.32%, respectively.
Bitcoin ownership chart. Source: intotheblock
As of March 2019, addresses holding 10-100 BTC accounted for the largest share of BTC supply, and the number of Bitcoin whales (minimum 1,000 BTC) has increased since then.
Bitcoin holdings balance. Source: Intotheblock
The supply held by whales (1,000 BTC-10,000 BTC) peaked in January 2021, with a total share of 30%. This has since fallen to 24.17%, with redistribution between the other two groups.
What is the average whale reserve?
While the aforementioned group holds close to 60% of the supply, the average supply per whale is less than 1,000. On-chain data from Glassnode shows that the current supply per whale is close to 550 BTC.
Bitcoin supply per whale (100-10K BTC). Source: glassnode
But it should be noted that addresses with more than 100 BTC in the above figure are considered whales.
Specifically, the whale supply indicator was originally created by Charles Edwards to measure the accumulation and allocation behavior of large Bitcoin holders.
It is defined as the total supply owned by addresses holding between 100 and 10,000 BTC divided by the number of addresses.
Therefore, it increases when whales accumulate and decreases during distribution events.
However, if we consider addresses with more than 1,000-10,000 BTC as legitimate whales, the average supply per address is around 2,401.
Whale accumulation heatmap shows BTC support at $52,000
Source: Chainexposed
The Bitcoin whale accumulation heat map shows that BTC around $52,000 is supported by a large number of buyers. The data shows that during February 2024, buyer concentration increased from $515,000 to $523,000.
Interestingly, after whales accumulated into this particular range in Q1 2024, BTC price increased by 42%.
BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
The same range could become an area of demand and support for Bitcoin if it pulls back to this price point again.
Bitcoin is up 2% in the past 24 hours but is currently facing resistance at the 200-day EMA (orange indicator).
