Bitcoin Whales Are Back to Buying the Dip as Price Recovers from Pre-Halving Dive

More than 34,000 Bitcoin (BTC) $93,871, currently worth $3.2 billion, has been “accumulated by institutional investors

Large Bitcoin ( BTC ) holders are once again accumulating significant amounts of the cryptocurrency following its price dip toward the end of 2024 after a record six-figure high, a Blocktrends analyst reports.

More than 34,000 Bitcoin ( BTC ) $93,871 , currently valued at $3.2 billion, has been “accumulated by institutional investors, driving buying pressure for the current recovery in Bitcoin,” Blocktrends head of research Cauê Oliveira wrote in a Jan. 8 CryptoQuant post.

Oliveira explained the buyup occurred after wallets holding between 1,000 to 10,000 BTC sold off 79,000 BTC in the week following Dec. 21 — days after it hit a peak of over $108,000 on Dec. 17 amid the US Federal Reserve interest rate cut — which “ended up generating a 15% correction.”

According to the analyst, “large players took advantage of the consolidation” and began making large trades broken down into multiple smaller orders, accumulating Bitcoin while its price was below $95,000.

Bitcoin seven-day balance change has flipped positive after a nearly 80,000 BTC sell-off in late December. Source: CryptoQuant

Bitcoin was trading at around $94,900 at the time of writing, down about 2.3% on the day along with the broader crypto market as U.S. jobs and economic data dashed hopes of further interest rate cuts at the end of January.

Bitfinex analysts said in a Jan. 6 market note that sell-side liquidity in Bitcoin markets is “shrinking at a rapid pace,” and the worst of the downward pressure on its price has likely passed.

Sell-side liquidity in BTC markets is shrinking at a rapid pace. Source: Bitfinex

Related: US Fed money printing could spur Bitcoin rally in Q1 2025 — Hayes

However, analysts are predicting that Bitcoin could be set for a record rally this year, driven by expected pro-crypto policies from incoming U.S. President Donald Trump and nation-state adoption of Bitcoin.

Fidelity Digital Assets research analyst Matt Hogan wrote in a Jan. 7 paper that the firm anticipates “more nation-states, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, and government treasuries will look to establish strategic positions in Bitcoin.”

Blockware analysts said late last month that a U.S. Bitcoin reserve could, in the worst case, push its price to over $150,000, while a best-case scenario would see the cryptocurrency rise to over $400,000.

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Large Bitcoin holders went on a buying spree in late 2024 after several wallets with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC dumped their holdings following the cryptocurrency’s record high of over $108,000.

As Bitcoin price dropped toward the end of 2024, large over-the-counter (OTC) trades were broken down into smaller chunks to avoid moving the market and enable institutional investors to continue buying up Bitcoin while its price was below $95,000.

The buying spree occurred despite several large trades being spotted moving 34,000 BTC out of Binance on Dec. 27, which some speculated could have been linked to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ( GBTC ) unlocking on that day. However, Grayscale later denied that the trades were linked to the unlocking.