Bitcoin Could Crash to $35,700 Despite Massive Whale Purchases for This Reason

Bitcoin (BTC) traded mostly flat over the weekend, following a strong week where its price briefly climbed above $69,000 on Friday. 

This recent surge comes despite the ongoing 2023-24 Bitcoin bull market experiencing a drawdown of -26% from its peak, a level consistent with previous uptrend cycles. However, this correction has been the most significant since the FTX collapse, highlighting a challenging period for the crypto asset.

Meanwhile, despite Bitcoin’s recent surge, market analysts remain divided on its future direction.

Popular crypto analyst Alan Santana expressed concern about Bitcoin’s price action, pointing out that, despite 75 days of upward movement, the cryptocurrency remains below the critical $70,000 resistance level set in July. “No new highs means bearish,” Sanatan noted in a Twitter analysis on Saturday.

The analyst highlighted a potentially troubling pattern in whale behavior, suggesting that even large-scale buyers might be reaching their limits.

“There are no significant buyers at these levels, and even whales have their limits. They’re running out of buying power,” he explained.

The pundit also pointed out a shifting dynamic in investor behavior, suggesting that retail investors have become more discerning and less vulnerable to traditional market manipulation. “We’ve been misled before… Many big players gave signals that were perfectly timed to be completely wrong,” he added. He emphasized that Bitcoin’s inability to sustain above $70,000 could lead to a pullback to $35,720, dismissing the overly bullish predictions by some whales, who have even forecast prices as high as $1000,000 by year-end.

However, not all analysts share this bearish outlook. Analyst Ali Martinez noted that Bitcoin’s price action follows a predicted pattern, suggesting a potential surge to $78,000 after some short-term volatility.

“Bitcoin may face a short-term dip with the TD Sequential flashing a sell signal on the 4-hour chart and bearish divergence showing up on the RSI,” Martinez tweeted on Saturday, though maintaining his overall bullish stance.

Notably, the contrasting views come amid significant whale activity in the market. Data shows that wallets holding at least 10 BTC have accumulated an additional 8,124 Bitcoin since October 12, indicating institutional solid interest despite the price uncertainty.

Institutional interest has also played a crucial role, particularly through BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, which recorded nearly $1 billion in volume in a single day. This represented two-thirds of the total ETF volume and marked the highest volume since the crash back on August 4^th.

Adding to the bullish narrative, Bitcoin has steadily moved off exchanges, a trend typically associated with reduced selling pressure. The current supply on exchanges sits at approximately 9.31%, down significantly from 12.16% in November. This dramatic decrease represents nearly a quarter of Bitcoin moving from exchanges to cold or non-exchange wallets over this period.

Meanwhile, exchange stablecoin reserves have grown substantially, particularly in Tether (USDT). The top 10 exchange addresses now hold $24.4 billion in Tether, up significantly from $14.45 billion a year ago. This $10 billion increase represents substantial “dry powder” that could flow into crypto markets, boosting BTC’s price.

BTC was trading at $68,703 at press time, reflecting a 0.60% increase over the past 24 hours.