The cryptocurrency market has endured a significant sell-off that saw its total market capitalization plunge by over $600 billion before it started recovering. In a sell-off that saw Bitcoin drip from a new high around $108,000 to a $92,000 low.
The cryptocurrency has, however, since started recovering and despite still being down more than 6.8% in the last 24-hour period, it’s now trading at $95,600 according to available market data.
According to popular cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez, the BTC price was seemingly seen as an opportunity for Bitcoin whales with between 100 and 1,000 coins in their wallets, who used the price drop to buy $1 billion worth of the cryptocurrency.
Whales bought over $1 billion worth of #Bitcoin $BTC during the recent market dip! pic.twitter.com/dfYl8QC41Z
— Ali (@ali_charts) December 19, 2024
The crypto market crash came after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points, and its Chair Jerome Powell suggested fewer rate cuts were coming in the next year.
Powell’s comments dampened investor sentiment and affected risk assets across markets, with the S&P 500 losing around 3.2% of its value since the comments were made and the Nasdaq seeing a similar dip.
The market sell-off caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to continue its decline after experiencing nine straight losing sessions, marking its longest series of daily losses since 1974.
One of the whales taking advantage of the price dip was the country of El Salvador, which bought $1 million worth of the cryptocurrency during the dip. The country, which became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender back in September 2021, has been accumulating 1 BTC per day.
On the government’s Bitcoin Office website, its balance history shows a new 11 BTC purchase was made during the dip, to bring its total BTC holdings to 5,980 coins.
Featured image via Pixabay.
